A Sidewalk Square Makes a Breakthrough in Therapy
I was stepped on 8,320,992 times yesterday, but I only remember four pairs of feet. They struck me while I was gazing at Simone, the concrete landing across the street. Rarely do I gaze at her because I fear being caught. But this time, I was doing so because she was gazing at Edifice Rex above her. That’s what all the squares call him. He’s tall and he’s not that easy to be around, and we truly hope he fucks his mother.
And we can say that after growing up together in the same cement factory
where he was throwing a fit all the time, spilling everywhere, and making the rest of us look bad.
And we can say that after growing up together in the same cement factory
where he was throwing a fit all the time, spilling everywhere, and making the rest of us look bad.
Anyway, so I was gazing at the stately Simone — so tall and majestic a few inches above me — and that’s when I got the buzzkill of all buzzkills: the bickering couple. The woman said something about the man staying out late every night. And the man was saying something about work and the long hours.
Long hours? I laughed. I got long hours, buddy. I never stop working. I got gum in my face, cigarette ash, pigeon poop, rubber soles, wooden soles, spilled coffee, snot, dog paws, and things that no sidewalk square should ever have to absorb.
So, as I was saying, these two wouldn’t shut up.
Then this other couple came by and they were trying their best not to look, walking all stiff like their bodies were starched along with their clothes at the cleaners. That was when I felt someone gazing at me. I mean I felt it in my very cement, you know?
And I looked around at the other sidewalk squares but they weren’t the ones looking. I looked at Simone but she was still looking at Edifice Rex. And I realized at that moment that I always looked at my immediate surroundings and then across the street. I never looked down. None of us did.
So I looked at the street this time.
And what do you know?
The pavement was paying attention to me.
I write
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And I am seeking literary representation for my urban fantasy novel. My articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times and Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine. Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope: All-Story gave my fiction an honorable mention. I am armed with a BA in English from UC Berkeley and an MFA in Screenwriting from USC.
