Lucius sat at the edge of the bed and allowed himself on fall on his back. The white of the ceiling faced him. His world right now was as blank as that white ceiling. Today, beginning right now, that white would be violated with the different colors of his life. Right now, he would live in a different life and at the end he would learn and see how the life he just left would evolve and alter. The way of destiny commands how one’s life will be lived.

Solaya crawled onto the other edge of the road like a stealthy cat. Looking into Lucius eyes, she caught his lips with hers then scooted beside him and landed her head in his outstretched arms. “When will you leave me?”

“I don’t know. Will I? Should I? I’m back here near you.”

The blazing red of the dying day splashed across the sky but he could only see a sliver of it behind a partially drawn curtain. He could count the hours from when he left Pampanga. He could remember, still, all things that had happened between packing his suitcase and arriving in Oakland. He had not spent a whole day, but now he had changed his life faster than an earth’s revolution.