VACATION FROM PROGRESS

They found this shore together—where production pauses at the waterline. Two figures without their friend. The smokestacks don’t stop. But the sand doesn’t care about quotas. A rotary phone sits disconnected with a deliberate silence. The objects in the shallows mark the edge of where rest is permitted. Beyond them: the pier that leads back to everything waiting. They don’t know this is the first chapter. The rest is preparation. For now: This is the last vacation before everything.