|
|
She was afraid of him when she saw his teeth and the hoods of his eyes laying long shadows across his face like a bandit's mask. She could hear water dripping somewhere behind her at the dead end of the alley, a dead end which was too near, which she felt press against her back. A pool of light from somewhere shimmered between them in a wet oval on the asphalt. But all around them was night and silence. They stood and looked at each other, no fleck of light from his eyes. That got to her, the way she could not see light in his eyes. She stood poised a little forward, her arms tense. He, having circled slowly, hypnotically, until she had her back to the enclosed end of the street, watched her closely. But he did not come toward her, just cocked his head a little to the left, as though amused. She knew the moment of absolute danger would come when he would spring upon her.
She looked past him, past the opening of the alley where street lamps set their orange glow upon the climate. Having wound her limbs tight with fear, she now let them all spring forward, and dashed past him. He stepped, coolly, almost too slowly, toward her and caught her in his arms as she tried to pass. He held her firm. She struggled and beat him with her fists, her feet slipping out from under her. Now, she felt the deep round cauldron of fire inside her that she knew was Life. And Life flashed her visions as she struggled: a dirty sneaker, turned over on its side, its tongue hanging out, laying near the wall, the face of her mother and its disappointment, a bright splash of spray paint on the back of the bus seat, she had stared at over and over, sure that it was some vicious pun. These fragments of junk from her life, and more, assaulted her as she felt the fantastic grip of this stranger upon her, his face now near, his breath upon her cheek.
"Settle down, little lady," he growled. "Look here, just take it easy!" He nearly picked her up, moving her over to a low concrete wall near some steps. "Settle down a little. Why don't you just set down here and relax. Everything's OK now. You can rest." He gave her a little push and she involuntarily sat on the wall. She grabbed the edges and held on tight, pulled her knees in together tightly, her head bowed, her shoulders pulled in. She was shivering a little, and sobbing, her face running with tears and sweat. "Don't hurt me, please, just let me go home."
He walked around in a little circle, hands in his pockets, looking up the alley to the street. "Why would I hurt you? " She didn't say a thing, just kept holding tight to the concrete of the wall. "What happened to you back there, anyway?"
"Huh?"
"Back there on the street you just lit out running all of a sudden, like something happened to you."
"I was scared suddenly."
"Of what?"
"Of you, I guess. You were just lurking there in the dark. I thought you saw me."
"I DID see you, and baby, did you run!" he said with some gravely wheezing laughter. "Well, where are you going, girl, in the middle of the night like this?"
"Home from Lise's house."
"Still scared?"
"I don't know what you want with me, why you dragged me back here."
"Honey, you ran up this alley all by yourself. I just came up to see if you were alright."
"Oh."
"Scared yourself pretty good, didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"So what's your name?"
"Sylvia Woods."
"It sounds like a picture, you know, Sylvan Woods."
"It's redundant," Sylvia mumbled, wiping her the tears from her cheeks.
"Huh?"
"Nothing. So what were you doing, lurking around in the dark like that?"
"Lurking? Lurking! I was just standing on the street. I live right up here on Pine."
"Were you going somewhere?"
"Nope. Nope. Not going anywhere. Not any more."
He lifted his head a little and looked over her shoulder, at something above and behind her. Then she heard a sound come out of him. She thought he was moaning, and began to feel afraid again, thought maybe he's some weirdo -- you can't tell what he might do. The sound continued to swell from him, a long low sound that hovered as a slow hum, and a tenuous melody began to take shape within it. He was singing some slow sad song, maybe a song of his own, maybe something old, from when he was young. He began rocking back and forth with the rhythm of the tune. She stood up and stepped a little bit away from him.
Then he started talking. "Whenever my little girl got afraid, she told me once, she'd look around, just over her shoulder in some secret hidden spot, and her angel would be there, and she would know when she saw that angel everything was gonna be alright. And, you know, even now when I'm feeling wary, I look over my shoulder, just to see if there's an angel hangin' there. But no way. Never saw one, not even once. I wonder if her little angel is still hangin' with her after all these years. You ever see angels?"
She answered him quietly. "No, I never did." Then she began to inch past him toward the street. "I guess I better get home now. Sorry I scared you."
"You scared me? You're kiddin' yourself now!" He laughed just a little too loud.
Sylvia walked deliberately down the alley, not looking back. But the back of her neck burned as she felt his eyes on her and still felt uncertain of her escape. As she reached the street she turned right to walk toward home. She crossed the street, right there in the middle of the block, and walked more quickly as she felt the trap of the alley receding behind her. One block more and her strides had become more natural. She began to think of Lise and what she had said about Matthew, wondering how he really felt, and as she walked she began to hum a slow tune, one she had not known before tonight.
|
|
|
