Excerpt from; LaSalle Park

TYPO
The desert sun was hot as Lainy trudged up the the mountain at dusk. She thought long and hard about her question, she would only be given one chance to ask, to understand.

Once Lainy reached the top, she approached Eenwa, the wise and bowed in respect, then inhaled one deep breath, ran her fingers through her thick, moist, unruly hair and composes herself before the mighty one.

"You come with a question my child?" Eenwa asks in a gentle,yet commanding tone.

By Eenwa's command, Lainy stands up tall and trys to appear confident. "Why can't we delete people from our lives the way we delete a typo?" She asks in controlled words.

"A typo is an unconscious mistake, a slip of the fingers. Every person who enters our life has a purpose, a meaning. They are hear to teach us even if it causes us pain. Your presence here tonight is prof of that. You are not hear by accident, our paths were meant to cross." The wise one said with conviction.

Lainy stood there for a moment, letting Eenwa's words fill her.

"But I need to let him go" Shed told the wise one.

"You already have, but he will remain with you forever. He is a part of you, and you a part of him. But you have removed the layers and now you see truth." She said with a finality in her voice and Lainy knew it was time to leave.

As she made her way down the mountain, her heals digging into the dry sand, she noticed the succulent agave along the trail. A king snake slithers and she stops to watch as it makes patterns in the sand. Slowly the realization takes hold, the wise one is right. This is not a chance, not a mistake, it's not a typo. Tonight has purpose.