The Shine Journal

Saturday Morning

by

Miguel Lopez de Leon

It's 1:00 AM

 The Saturday morning cartoons will start in four hours
 He tells himself
 Restlessly staring at his blank laptop
 He's not sure about the haircut he got today
 It's too short, too neat
 His eyes wander to a deep scratch 
 On the polished wooden floor below him
 He remembers when he would wake up at five in the morning
 And run down the stairs
 Or down the hall
 Whichever house they had moved to, or from, at the time
 And easily watch seven hours of the best cartoons 
 It was so easy to get lost 
So easy to wander 
He has a box of old comic books in his closet
The ones he use to collect
 He has stacks of movies he remembers from that time
 They make him feel safe, and sad
 They make him feel
 Which is what he likes
 Books are his cartoons now
 He treasures the tall, dusty volumes 
  Littering his condo
 It's cold tonight
 He wants to stand up and get some vodka from the freezer
 An internal struggle is raging inside of him
 Why is he always so hungry? So angry. So tired.
 He reminds himself he's okay
 He is lucky, loved and blessed
 He glances at the clock again
 It's 1:02 AM

Miguel Lopez de Leon is a writer living happily in Los Angeles. Miguel is currently working on'The Hillside Chronicles',an exciting young adult, fantasy series. To see more of Miguel's work, as well as Book One of the series,'The Hillside Chronicles: Peter Huddleston & The Rites of Passage', go to www.miguellopezdeleon.com

Motivation : Old Saturday morning cartoons, and the strong, almost palpable sense of nostalga they create, are what initially motivated  the writing of\'Saturday Morning.' I can't be the only one who remembers waking up at five in the morning and watching the Smurfs!