Moonbound
The hinge purred when anyone crossed the threshold, which is physics and, in this house, policy.
Near midnight, the lighthouse on its sulking rock blinked white twice, then paused, then blinked three times, as if practicing Morse it had not been taught. A boy on the far steps counted, ran the count to the ferry-woman, and the ferry-woman took the count to the rail the way you carry a loaf: Tomorrow at noon. She didn’t know what it meant; she didn’t need to. The city likes its clocks.