Patience.

Its a hard lesson to learn, patience;  a slippery pole to shimmy with the prospect of slippage ever there. Patience. One day you have it in spades, the next

Ive got it though. If you need something, if you want it enough to feel its hooks inside your stomach,  its call from deep within your blood, sometimes thats just enough to give you patience. Not always, of course. But today it is.

When its dark here, its likewell, like time stands still. Like the Universe is holding its breath. Trees rustle, cats sing and dogs howl their marks against the quiet of the night. Every now and then you can hear cars over on Jackaroo Way,  but its like a painting, a poster. You know, background. Nothing moves, really. Time stands still. If you want to stand with it, you have to know patience.

A slippery pole indeed, and a hundred ways to lose your grip. Need, greed, desire, lust, a thousand weights tied round your ankles, trying to pull you down. So many ways your fun can be ruined. Like any good sport, patience is the coach. Helps you learn from your mistakes, smf get it right. Helps focus the mind, gets you in the zone, as they say.

I stay here all night, sometimes. A carved shadow on black canvas from the moment the sun falls far enough to hide me till the time the greying sky reports its return and risks me being seen once more. The need drives, but patience keeps you on the road, my friend.

Three times now I've pulled an all-nighter. The cold can grab you, I learned, but it cant hold you; not if you know real patience.

Not tonight though.

Tonight shes coming, I know. I can feel it. She wont leave me alone, Gods rewarding me. Rewarding me for having patience. Shell be here soon, soon now.

Excitement, yet another weight. Its building now, trying to pull me down. Make me lose my patience, make me act quickly, rashly. Get closer to the street, find a better bush, a better place, it whispers. Like a little cartoon devil perched on my shoulder, it knows right from wrong but still tries to lead me there. Like the cold, you have to know how to close that out if you want to score the prize.

But Ive got it under control; push it down thats the way, bury it till you need it. Keep calm, right until the moment

Thats when patience flies and you earn your reward. That delicious, oh so powerful moment when my feet grow wings and for one, fleeting moment I can grab her bag and shell scream oh, so loud, and Ill hear her breath tear from her lungs in shear fright as she falls to the floor or backpedals away. Sometimes I look back as I run, and on a good night the look of horror on her face is transparent, and you can almost see her gut-churning relief that the bag is all I wanted. Man, thats good that look That's the goal from 40 yards out in overtime, the entire and I mean whole enchilada with cheese and pickles on top.

But its just the appetizer, really. Stop number one on the hobby train. Next comes the cash, then the buy, then the high. And I can sit back and touch Heaven, commerce with the Angels and laugh at those below, all the while knowing that she paid for it. Doesnt matter which she, theyre all the same.

As hobbies go, it keeps me busy.

Till the next time, at least.