Ripley the Ram

Ripley loved the Santa Ana winds – a force of nature so confused you realized the universe didn’t get everything right either. She loved the heat that floated off something that should have been cold. She loved how fast they could whip through the canyons, stirring up dried oak leaves, big and brown, like the hands of her lovers, that crackled as they skipped in the wind.

She loved how cruel they could be, landing during the dry months and bringing fires instead of rains to the starved fields. She loved those hot sticky days when all she wanted was an iced tea and a pool to take a dip in, cool off, and relax from digging the graves but got the smokey warmth of a breeze instead.

But most of all, she loved the loud bursts of energy that made trees sway, branches crash and windows rattle – sounds so loud nobody would hear her lovers’ skulls crack.