Photo by Louella Lester
Midwinter in Winnipeg Sometimes
Louella Lester
When it’s -42°C (-44°F) with windchill and you know your winter boots just aren’t warm enough and there’s no choice but to walk, you might not notice the beauty of brake lights.
Or that, from behind your tightly wound scarf, the condensation fogging your glasses has blended with car exhaust to create a water colour.
When you almost slip on ice while crossing the street, you may not catch that mundane car speeding in to become a streak of shadow at the intersection.
Or, when you finally reach the grocery store a few blocks from home, and the pain in your cold toes has turned into an almost dangerous numb, you might fail to be dazzled by parking lot lights.
Or notice the person, not dressed for walking in winter, with a subtle blur of blue packaged under his arm as he crosses to the comfort of his heated car.
Especially when you know that cold toes stop feeling the pain when they’ve become numb and it’s time for you to hurry.
Photos by Louella Lester
Photo by Anthony Mark Photography
Louella Lester is a writer/photographer in Winnipeg, Canada, author of Glass Bricks (At Bay Press), a contributing editor at New Flash Fiction Review, and has a story selected for Best Microfiction 2024. Her writing appears/is forthcoming in a variety of journals/anthologies, most recently: MacQueen’s Quinterly, Gooseberry Pie, Bright Flash, Paragraph Planet, SoFloPoJo, The Ekphrastic Review, Cult Magazine, The Dribble Drabble Review, and Writing in a Woman’s Voice.