An Observation

Submitted by Alice Roper

I see this from my fifth floor window. A flash of white material bounces across the pasture. The wind picks it up and pushes it across the grass. It waves merrily in the breeze, twisting this way and that. It rests on the grass. Now it is loose. Rising in the air, it travels farther, then settles down again. Another gust of wind tears it into two pieces. One sails away; the other stays. The free piece keeps rising as it travels over one draw, on to the next. As the wind dies down, the plastic settles in the tree tops. Rain comes as night falls. The plastic droops; by morning it can’t be seen.

Did it move on? Is it caught on the lower branch? Is it smothering the plants below? The other fragment has ripped apart. It breaks away, rolling in several directions. These pieces are smaller. They scatter across the grass and I can no longer see them. There are other plastic pieces to watch.  Where did they come from? How far will they travel? How much harm can they cause? After all, they are just plastic bags.