Flagger- PS

My partner called out cars she sent as we stood at opposite ends of the work zone, and when hers had passed, I called out mine sending them along a narrow passage. We found a common language to communicate, and we made small talk when things were slow. The construction crew struggled to settle each fresh coat of asphalt over a moist bed of clay of a two-lane in northeast Nebraska arcing and curving over hills and valleys between two unincorporated areas. Black angus cows grazed on a grassy hill, coincidental beauty found in another time and place, and a bull bellowed to declare the spread his own. After work my partner and I stood outside our rooms at the hotel. She talked about her husband and I talked about a librarian who read my poems. While we spoke about our lives back home, a light in the lot shone a distant star.