beacon at night
dad took us to see the beacon at night. i looked up at oscillating red and green light, way up on the mountain, and refused to take one step further away from the car into the darkness.
at some point in the evening i collected something from the dirt siding we had parked in, a bundle of metal that fit in the palm of my hand, with insulated red and green wires twisting out. i left it in the back of a shelf in the remnant house and by the time it was remembered, years later, it had disappeared.