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Green

Today I painted the porch in my backyard. It is green. I didn't pick the color. Today my horoscope said green was my lucky color. I thought I would have preferred money. Even with the heat and the sweat gathering at the base of my neck, wetting my hair,  there was something soothing about rolling the paint roller up and down against the thirsty wall. With each roll and with each song I sang out of tune to myself I could feel myself making something new. I was making the dirty beige porch new, shiny, green. I was making myself new by shedding thoughts that have been rolling around in my mind for days. I was covering them over along with the beige paint.

The sun was my heated companion burning the back of my legs, leaving my calves slightly red as if they were blushing from all the attention. My shoulders ached from stretching longer than my height, longer than my reach. My hands began to shake after hours from gripping the roller, from gripping with sweaty hands and trying to hold on. Early evening came and I began to loose my companion. I knew that it was time to say goodbye. As I finished the last edges and corners I could feel the salty trail down my tired lower back. I could feel my bicep burning from the holding the weight of green paint can. And just before the sun dipped completely behind the mountain I looked at what I had accomplished. The porch was shadowed and looked a darker green, but it was shiny, new, and I had done it. Today my horoscope said green was my lucky color.

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