3941. BEARING THE SHOES OF EDWARD VILLELLA

BEARING THE SHOES

OF EDWARD VILLELLA

It was a windswept carpet of a night as we trounced up

Broadway. A long-distance goal would have been Lincoln

Center, had we been asked. As it were, our elongated

bodies fought the wind past scores of luggage stores,

lingerie wholesalers and stationery and office suppliers.

The occasional Afghan jewelry distributor added color to

an otherwise bleak night. Street-signs and traffic lights

distorted the pleasure of the walk as we ambled forth

unknown. At about the time I spied a yellowing bookstore

at a bend in the street, just then, the sinister carriage came

around the curve, with three figures within. Starting out,

they directly entered the brownstone before which they

had stopped. The tophats were odd, their gait was important,

and the long, black capes they wore seemed of another age.

A thin, white light went on in the vestibule, while outside their

black horse whinnied; a token perhaps of its loneliness

or edge. Quickly, the three entered the house. I heard

them ask for 'Mr. David Zimmerman.'

-

I have never felt as much out of time as that day. I have

never felt more a lone stranger that at that moment, when,

on a broad and darkened street, I sensed everything I knew

to be drifting away. There was a not-so-old mother, in a

thin house dress, at the other window, holding cloth and

slowly weaving her body in and out of time - to a tune,

perhaps, that only she was hearing. There was a

disembodied bird, its floating blue jay head and neck,

crown and eyes, hovering directly in front of me. As

it alit onto my arm, it regained its entire body. The

two side eyes were than added to by a larger,

central eye with one hooded lid.

-

I felt to talk to someone, remembering I wasn't alone.

Turning in the clutter of this odd reality, I saw instead

that I was alone; singularly enchanted, I decided to

rest. The coal-dark night of this lethal city had bested

me, had worked on my mind. Some monument to

Columbus was beckoning me. I verily hesitated to go.

-

I was holding the shoes of Edward Villella -

(I thought to be lost in the snow).