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“Why don’t you take a morning off?” Brad sighed. “And come back here, my love.”

Kelly smiled as she pulled running shorts over her long tanned legs.

“You know I can’t miss a day. Not, if I’m going to win that marathon! Keep me company.” She tied her sneakers.

“Not today babe. I’m real tired.” Brad replied with one eye closed. “Besides, I can’t keep up with you at my best.”

Kelly blew him a kiss. “Keep the bed warm. I’ll be back real soon.” She locked the apartment door behind her.

It was a damp, overcast morning at Venice Beach. The sea mist quickly enveloped Kelly, as she went through her leg stretches.

‘Maybe I should forget it this morning?’ She thought and suddenly yearned to be safe in her lover’s arms. The mist felt like icy fingers that pinched her skin. ‘But if I miss a day itwill be harder the next.’

Reluctantly, she slowly began to run along the sidewalk.

A drunk was passed out next to a trash dumpster, empty beer bottle by his side. He had been using it as his sleeping place for the last three nights; probably for his food as well, she suspected. Kelly wondered how old he was. It was impossible to tell with his long mattered hair and overgrown beard.

She encountered the homeless almost every day and it always depressed her, but once she turned onto Wave View Street, her spirits were raised as she passed by the quaint houses.

Wave View is one of the many pedestrian alley ways that crisscross the city of Venice. These houses are an eclectic community of brightly painted wood bungalows from the 1950’s and modern multi-level dwellings.

The mist began to clear as Kelly ran passed her favorite house.

It was shaped similar to a light house, and the top portion of its central tower entirely encased in glass. She imagined that the views from that vantage point were spectacular as it was the tallest building in the neighborhood and within a block from the beach.

The front yard was open and she noticed the young man as he arranged fold-up tables.