the dust settled in the air like an orange fog, reflecting the colors of the desert sunset. normally a dust storm like this would pass within fifteen minutes, in fact, it wasnt uncomman for one to blow through the valley, a thick sephia cloud just above the eastern horizon line to one just as mennacing, yet just as dissapointingly harmless in the west, without anyone realising it had gusted past their vary window. Its only traces were those left behind in dried water droplets on cars and swishing lines like painted mountain scapes on the asphault. But there were some dust devils who seemed to get too atatched to an area, and would linger behind while the wind passed through, and sway in the heatwaves radiating off the creocete bushes and paloverde trees. It was an even more rare occasion for such a phenomenon to occur at just the right moment when the blaring sun was setting or rising, creating the coral, tangerine glow that surrounded me. 

     Valley fever is an old wives tale to me, something someone older than me had always warned me of and yet never had the evidence to validate, like getting worms behind your ears if you didnt shower properly or getting sick from playing in the rain. So, fearless and immortal I stooped on my roof and searched within the leaves of the old tree above me for the branch that once housed a family of hummingbirds months ago.