Advice

I am building a shed in my woods. When I am done, it will be a place to hide from the world and write. Meanwhile, the noise of construction cannot be hidden. It carries well beyond my property and attracts the curious.

Ever so often I hear a shuffling on my gravel path and moments later a neighbor materializes out of the trees.

“What you building?” they ask.

The question always throws me.

I see a floor. I see framing for walls. I see bare rafters. I ask them what they see?

They shrug.

It raises doubts about my project.

“It started out as a shed,” I tell them, “but after all the rain we got in June, I decided to build an ark.” My little joke always falls flat. They know me, but not that well. For all they know, I am building an ark.

“Where’s the door,” they…