Eagle Rock

It happened at the same time, but a day apart. Driving on the 134 East looking at the town of Eagle Rock stretched to the South, I felt as if I were the first and only person to see this view. The first to see that exact configuration of lights in the houses and businesses, the street lights, stop lights, green lights, and yellow flashing lights. The children growing, dogs walking, couples shopping, cats eating. I had never felt as if I were the first person to see anything. But, the afternoon before that day, while driving on the same freeway in the late afternoon, I saw it.

The town of Eagle Rock is named after a huge bolder with the profile of an eagle's beak. I've driven by it for years. But that day, I drove around the slopes of the San Gabriel Mountain in the late afternoon and saw the shadow under the eagle's wings as it soared from the rock, its beak pointing toward the sky. Why the eagle took so long to show itself to me is a mystery, but I've been the only person on earth to see many things since that day.