unuse, atrophy, the deterioration, the lessening, the loss of value over time, depreciation, but not quite, but rather the rustiness of skills, of things put away, tools from far back in the toolshed, dusted off, that knife in the back of the kitchen drawer, is it still sharp, does it still cut, do i not bleed when i draw my finger upon its edge? oh, but i do. dormancy. hibernation. riding a bicycle. it's throwing that old blue schwinn into a skid on loose gravel, the pebbles embedded into skin, falling away to expose the white of bone. skills and tools that aid and abet, modus operandi, or whatever that is, and put back into the bag of tricks and treats.