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2000 Reynolds Award Winner The Alley |
The
smell of this particular alley is a stomach-turning stench.
There is lettuce rotting on top of a metal garbage can, that only
yesterday garbage men had come to empty with a sound of
metal rolling against the floor like a drummer pounding on a
snare drum. They succeeded, but the garbage can is full again.
The tenants in the apartment buildings had filled the garbage
cans this morning. Numerous boxes are piled onto each other
like a towering skyscraper that had just been built. The derelicts
are sleeping in their long narrow wet cardboard boxes on the
side of the alley. The boxes are wet from the earlier
thunderstorm. There is a residue still streaming down the
middle of the alley where the drainage crack leads to the metal
circular sewer. The drain spout on the roof leaks the remnants
of the icy cold water. This alley has its own personality. It is
dark and secluded, but everyone knows about it. The length of
the alley is immeasurable. Just look forward; you can see it
forever. With each new section, there comes a different
personality because of the new location. The width of the alley
varies in each section as you look down to see an infinite
number of miles. It is a cool humid summer night. As the dark
gray clouds line the top of the alley, the threat of another
thunderstorm arises. The gray clouds cast a gloomy spell upon
this alley. Alley lights cast shadows on the gray broken
pavement. All is illuminated. Hear the soft buzz from the light
with its yellow-orangish glow. The dark shadows of the night
complement the glow. The buildings surrounding the alley are
brick. The glow of the lighted windows is no match for the
gloomy darkness of the alley, which consumes the light. The
garages are mini examples of their older big brother, the houses
with steeple roofs and windows, but no lights are on. The
crevices help the cemented alley with leading the water, home,
to its place. The pebbles of the cracks are sitting isolated from
the other cement. This stone is not the only thing feeling
isolated. The alley feels very secluded from the whole world,
but the length at the alley infinitely reaches out. The gates
connected to the alley by their big and little brothers serve as a
threshold for the people of the building to their garbage cans
and the world beyond. The sludge of the streets and the natural
weatherworn cement have been washed down in the drainage
crack. This sludge hides in the shadows of the light but is
unable to escape. In this section of the alley, there is a huge
hole, which reveals the cobblestone underneath. It was the floor
of today's yesterday. A mouse scurried across the cold wet
cracked cement floor to find food for its hungry little stomach.
This is the alley.
[Return to the Select Entries from Nota Bene 2000.]