Flicker.

I had a pile of short papers to grade today, and I made myself grade them. By the time I was nearly done, this evening, I was in the process of deciding not to continue--until I saw the evening shadows flickering on my red desk, which somehow impressed upon me the possibility that I might even embrace grading if I stopped regarding it as something standing between me and the rest of my life. "So this is what my life is for this little time," I thought. And I sat in the flickers and penned comments until it was time for dinner, and then I went outside and sat with my flaming-sworded friend and her excellent husband until I had finished. And that, I have to say, has occasioned no small amount of pleasure in me, as those of you who know my tortured relationship with grading will fully appreciate.