Read Parts 1 & 2
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"My boy, it will pass-- just concentrate. I'll whisper to you. We're under the water now and the tunnel walls are so thin-- but we'll make it."
"I feel like I can't breathe very well."
He stroked my hair and recited to me:
"Once upon a time there was a cozy dead end street that rather than being transformed from its industrial origins into a parking lot was allowed to become overgrown until its metal buildings were torn open by rain and wind, nor were its brick buildings spared a similar trial as they fell in parts to become sturdy sanctuaries for the wild animals of the city, not excluding humans. Within a decade of neglect the yards of the dead end street had reached an equilibrium that afforded each resident rat, reptile, insect or bird their own healthy niche. Likewise, the active irresponsibility of mankind had accelerated by destruction the creation of a barrier of hazardous passage which prevented all but the most insanely benign humans from invading the peace that the creatures of the dead end street had found.
The site became lost but one day a truck began stopping there just as the sun reached its peak. Before it left the man inside tossed the dregs of his coffee with milk and sugar into a patch of grass where a lizard and a cricket lived unaware of each others presence. The two creatures waited each day for the sweet rain to fall and enjoyed the tasty bounty each in their own way.
PART 4... |