Night Stroll

The lights go off.

He wakes, shakes his mane, and stalks off as the night air is crisp and the stars are twinkling from high above. The lion nudges the window open and heads into the darkness. It's silent outside and no one is around, just the way he prefers it. He saunters down the street, stretching his legs from sitting all day and swishing his tail, slicing the cool air. He stops at a house and watches as an innocent child sleeps and growls at the nightmares, chasing them away. He keeps going, stopping every once in a while to nose through an empty Taco Bell wrapper. The lion strolls alongside a river until finally he finds a field.

Then he really comes alive

The magnificent beast begins to run, chasing after fireflies, leaping from park bench to park bench, madly on the chase as the lightening bugs taunt him as they flicker for a second then quickly disappear. As other nocturnal creatures come out of their homes, the lion playfully stalks them, pretending each one is a wildebeest out on the savannah. He pounces but never attacks them--he has no need to eat them.

Once he has finished startling his prey, he heads for a grassy knoll, high above the rest of the park. There, he looks up at the great stars above him, watching as stars shoot across the sky, too far away for him to catch. He sits and ponders his life and waits for an adventure to arise. There isn't one tonight but he'll always try again tomorrow.

The world around him starts getting brighter and it's time to head back. The glorious creature takes one last careless swipe at a noisy cricket and leaves. Although some people are already starting their day, the lion ambles down the city streets. He isn't afraid of them spotting him, they are too concerned with punctuality and traffic to notice a lion meandering down the sidewalk. At last, he climbs back through the window and plops back onto bed and Aslan Judah Mufasa settles down to sleep.

After all, lions do sleep nineteen hours a day.