| I smiled back and we were off. In my little blue jacket and my jeans, out
into the early morning air which I had seen only very few times in my life. |
 |
|
|
The sun was barely starting to peek through the grayness of dawn and the cold air made me
shiver as we walked around the corner, past the hotel and up the block to the next corner,
where a small crowd was gathered around the entrance. |
I had never realized this was the entrance to this fabled place of dark wonders: a gray
stairway leading down from the sidewalk, into places that are so hard to reach, desires
that live somewhere beneath the level of the streets and the houses. |
|
|
Two men in white were pulling up something from the bottom of the stairs. I pushed forward
to see what it was. My mom held on to my shoulder and peeked over me. |
| I saw cold ice and blood, a piece of wood in the shape of a shoulder,
black nightmare in the shape of hair and a sprinkling of red dust that I recognized as
pure fear and nagging realization – |
|
...this is Death and its coming up slowly from the bottom of the stairs, emerging into
the light from its home among the adults and the drinking and the dancing and the showers
of red forbidden thoughts, |
|
| ...Death without a face but with a name, |
|
...Death taken away from me as quickly as it came with a strong pull on my shoulder
and a forgotten walk back to the apartment building. |
|
Dust sprinkled on Water coalescing into Skin frozen into
Black Ice dissolving into Dust. |
