I am still unsure what difference it makes that the past several months have seen me going to work and returning from work in the darkness of the early moening and the darkness of the evening. The last few days, suddenly it seems, there is daylight on both ends of the daily journey. I don’t really feel anything on account of it. Ohe side effect is I no longer see my reflection in the window that overlooks John Street. That is from this room with tables and a refrigerator where I type these words on workdays. Wait, on closer examination I can barely see a ghostly reflection in said window but with the grace of daylight I am harder to see. I do not like seeing myself in any reflection, even the apparition-like stain I cast upon that window.
No one was sleeping on the grate at 9 John Street today. Most every day the presence of someone comfortably resting on that very warm and (apparently) seductive piece of sidewalk metal is a reliable presence. Not today. There used to be a woman who held court on that spot. Any time I passed she called me “Candy.” I’m sure she called all the boys by that name, or something similarly attempting their attention. She’s no fool but she’s not been seen in these parts for months. Maybe she found her Candy. Last I saw her she was asleep on Dutch Street. under a blanket or maybe it was a sleeping bag. But the grate at 9 John is like the hottest hotel room in town, if only you can get it. I once stood on that spot on a cold day and hell yeah, it felt nice, though the air coming up from who-knows-where must have been of questionable breathability
The elevator at the end of the R has been out of service for weeks. This is not really a problem in terms of timing. Instead of sometimes waiting that full minute for the elevator to rise up from the concourse I instead spend about that same one minute of my life stepping into the Oculus where an escalator whisks me down to the same level. I overheard someone bragging about how the Oculus is a bucketlist destination for so many people in the world yet she passes through it every day. Who the hell cares? Almost anywhere you go there are people who make similar boasts about their tiny town’s giant teacup or thier city’s outsized something or other. The Oculus is a bit of a trip, though. The elevators…
I had something else to day…