The next day as he finished the mystery
and after the fictional president had re-
covered his equilibrium, he looked up
again on the front porch between the
wind chimes and saw that the mourning
dove had returned to the highwire. The
bird sat content on two legs instead of
one this time as the cirrus clouds moved
eastward high above the bird. The man
closed the book’s cover and sat for a
minute with both feet planted firmly on
the front porch as the Tao Te Ching ad-
vised. He breathed deeply several times,
said goodnight to the dove on high and
retreated into the house for the evening
greeted by his wife and the Chocolate Lab.