Terminal

The diagnosis came from nowhere, terminal.

We drive down the Baja track with the stereo blasting and cases of Pacifico rattling and a stack of warm tortillas between us, boards on the racks and a massive swell on the way. A looming collision, the outcome known. The rusty sun dips west. Air turns cool and calm and smells of sage. The desert enters perfect equilibrium between day and night, a few moments of stasis.

The ocean beckons.

Tom Mahony is a biological consultant in California with an MS degree from Humboldt State University . His fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in dozens of online and print publications. His first novel, Imperfect Solitude, was published by Casperian Books in 2010. His second novel, Flooding Granite, is forthcoming in fall 2011. Visit him at tommahony.net.