-D

I walk with a hasty pace down 35th. My purse is clutched deep against my side but my gut is too preoccupied with other things than to whine with pain. Why had I delayed and squandered time, I thought. What costly absentmindedness! I pour my concentration into the long path ahead.

The dim warm sodium lights did little to illuminate the path, accentuating instead the night. I scurry between them, each an island such as they are distantly spaced. Along my path imposing rows surround and encase me. Their windows betray not a flicker of a candle. They are bottled up and against the night but some are simply empty and some are simply empty lots. All loom from the depths and just as quickly return to it.

Down the scarred sidewalk I hurry. Each step is one closer to home. The sounds of insects and birds and people are absent but not for lack of notice. I pull my purse tighter ruining the smooth surface with my nails digging deep into it. The contents are surely just as ruined. But that does not matter nor is it noticed now. Perhaps later.

The sound of a distant rumbling resonate through the ground. Just the trains, I thought with a startle, and I am rewarded with the accompanying squeaks and protests of brakes and electric lines far off. The wish of a bus line here to accompany it crosses the mind. It's a dream unfortunately denied.

The sound of footsteps catch my attention, behind me, then muffled and distant as its owner, invisible in the night, wanders off down a different block, no longer behind me. A rustle alerts me as a harmless bag drifts across the road kicking up trash along the way. More rustling as the wind picks up and blows it all around playfully.

Snapping attention upwards from that sudden distraction, a white light emanating from one lot ahead brightens the path. I feel pulled towards it like a moth spiraling slowly to the flame. I wondered, what could be there? Why such an attraction at such a time? I slowly approached the source apprehensively, keeping a vigilant eye upon the neighborhood.

A sole floodlight is keeping watch over this particular residential vacancy. A silhouette stands against it. The broad tall figure casts a lone long shadow which reaches towards me. I am transfixed by the scene. The surroundings dissolve around me, my focus drawn solely on this man.

And then he turns to me: