Quiet Monday

My mother lives at the top of those stairs, down the long hallway. She looks out at the hills, at blue sky and scudding clouds, the Game Show Network with its bells and buzzers and cheers and canned applause playing softly in the background. Yesterday was the final day of carnival in Jamaica. In Kingston, road marchers in masquerade costume and street clothes danced their way from the national stadium to Half Way Tree. My brother and cousins and nieces were there, but I stayed home with my mom. We followed their progress through photos on Instagram. This was how it looked when they were starting out. Two realities. They almost touch.