Laura Jane Faulds

October 29th

You can always tell what month it is. If you went into space for twenty years and in it there was no time, then came back to earth and they stuck you in the middle of somewhere where there’s seasons and asked you what month it is, all you’d have to do is sniff the air and look at one square of ground and you’d know. Worst case scenario you’d say March if it was April or July in August.

They sat on a cement curb at the bottom of an October-looking hill. In October there’s leaves all over everything and that’s how you know it’s October. And it always smells like something’s burning.