Wandering, and the associated people-watching, made up for the fact that she had given up recording her experiences. Not that giving that up had been easy. The school had practically demanded that she lose that habit after several parents complained about their students feeling uncomfortable. She had grudgingly accepted after the principal, a woman who normally treated Ceilí as a friend, threatened to fire her. The old notebooks were stocked in a filing cabinet in the corner of her apartment. Ceilí still made notes, but as part of the agreement, they were all mental.
As Ceilí sat on a bench in the playground, a female form came trudging from the ashes of the carnival in the parking lot past Watershed Heights. As she crossed the street by the decrepit fountain, a truck came rushing past and nearly struck her. Ceilí hopped up from the bench and stepped toward the woman in a rush, but the woman continued, only mildly phased. The woman made her way towards the Stop 'n' Shop, following the truck. As the woman passed under a streetlight, Ceilí caught sight of her state: grimy, sooty, dark. Ceilí followed the woman. In the parking lot beside the Stop 'n' Shop, Ceilí saw a couple of men in black dragging an ATM into a truck. Failing, rather. Ceilí dragged her cellphone from her pocket and jammed her nervous fingers into the keypad. 9-1-1. Busy.
9-1-1. Busy.
9-1-1. Busy.
Ceilí gave up.
When he walked around outside, Ezekiel noticed a woman sitting on a bench near the playground. "Hello ma'am, can I intrest you in some leopard skin accessories? I think they would really bring out your eyes..." Without so much as eye contact, the woman got up and left, following another woman who appeared to have fallen into a vat of black ink.
ReplyDelete"Newman almost lost himself in all of it. He recovered his sense of dignity and helped a young woman to her feet, asking if she was alright and if she had any idea what this 6th word... ATM of course could have gone off to. Not forgetting his charm and wit that was left from his business past. Less for the audience of 1, more to clutch to what yarn thread of a past life that he could."
ReplyDelete“…to reach his vast earnings, Paul offered a hand to a lovely lady that he barely even knew. It was embarrassing to admit that he had no clue what she did or who she was.”
ReplyDeleteBlog #8:
“In his mirth Paul actually couldn't remember whether she received his room number, or if she too could only see a face rather than another person.”
“Maybe it wasn't too late to learn. Maybe he might go home after all and take something back maybe he would hear back from Ceilí or--…”
I was not alone in watching the two men. A couple watched from a fourth story window in Watershed Heights. A man was walking his dog and stopped long enough to pull out his phone in order to post a new facebook status about the robbery. Another, Ceili Thompson I think, sat on a bench and dialed a number on her phone again and again.
ReplyDeleteI noticed a woman sitting on a park bench so I decided to go up and talk to her. Smoothing back my hair, clearing my throat, I came up from behind and tried to decide what to say. "Hey--" CRASH!
ReplyDeleteThe crash covered up my pathetic attempt at conversation. I looked towards where the noise had originated from and saw a bunch of men stealing an ATM machine. That's dumb, now the police will be after them, I thought. Amatuers.
The woman was now trying to dial 911 on her cellphone, but I could tell it wasn't working. I walked around to the front of the bench, intending to help her and hopefully learn her name.
"Would you like me to try? I'm good with phones," I smiled as I said this. She must have trusted me enough, or just didn't care anymore, because she said "Sure" and handed me the phone. I looked down,and felt the weight of the small phone in my hand. My fingers fit perfectly over it. I stared at the screen trying to remember what to do when the screen started to swim in my vision. No, I'm not gonna take this, I want to impress her and stealing her phone will NOT help, I thought.
"On second thought, I need to go..." I think she sensed my discomfort with the phone. She held out her hand to take it back, and I started to hand it to her. Almost there.
Almost. But not quite. I didn't even get to see her face as I ran off. Probably never would again.
Ms. Pigg was about to dial 911 to get help but then she noticed that Celi Thompson was right next to her dialing and redialing the same number, 911. But after a couple of tries of the line still busy, she gave up, and Ms. Pigg didn't think she would have any luck.
ReplyDeleteTime: 12:56 pm
ReplyDeleteLocation: Same
Temperature and Humidity: Same
Push it out of your head Margie-girl. Stop wasting energy on useless passion – you've ruled your life by reason, and this is no time to change. Watch the people around you. Feel the sun on your skin. Dig your toes in the earth and understand what plants understand. Think about everything so you can think about nothing.
Time: 1:00 pm
Location: Same
Temperature and Humidity: Same
The woman with the leaky ceiling is sitting on a bench in the playground. Her head twitches slightly, like she's counting the squeaks of the rusty swings as the wind tangles them together.
A teenage girl is staggering along the sidewalk. She is covered from head to toe in soot. The woman with the leaky ceiling has gotten up to follow her.
Two men with a hand truck have taken the ATM from Stop 'n Shop and are running down the alleyway, presumably towards a getaway car. Nectar robbers have a better strategy, and they're running off a cerebral ganglion, not a brain.