When you start your dayby stubbing your toeeven before you get to the bathroomand you know it's an insignificant injuryin the scope of world tragedybut in the momentthe pain occupies all of your brainexcept for the part still carrying onabout how you have to pee -this is a first glimmerthat the old gods are about today.But in case you're not ready to believe,you'll have cut yourself shavingand that tiny slice will bleedonto the first shirt you put onand so you'll go downstairshaving dressed yourself twice.You'll knock your coffee overwith a flick of your hand,then you'll forget your keys on your way to your carand then as you pull out of your neighborhood,you'll remember your walletis waiting patiently on the counter for you.And you will do a quick calculus - can I get through my day with no money? what's the chance the police will pull me over?and that last one, given the other signshas you turning around in some stranger's driveway.Now your ancestors in that Mediterranean village - no, not the ones with the copious crucifixes,before them.The ones who made the tiny shrines tucked into every nook and cornerwhere their descendants, closer to you, shoved little statues of Mary,but those older ancestors had other figures there first.They knew when a splash of wine was called for, or to place a slice of orangeor a few almonds.And they would tell you,based on the morning you are havingthat you have with the utmost certaintyoffended a god.A small god, most likely, but still, what are you?Not a god,they would tell you. And now you,having lost touch with the old ways,awkwardly pour a bit of your coffee from your travel mugonto the mulch by the garage door,the threshold of your home and the larger world.It's a small gesture,but it is noted.Somehow from thereyou find yourself moving more deliberatelyand all the lights are green when you roll up to themand all the cars seem to have other places to beother than in front of you,and thus somehow, you arrive on time.

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