i just went to the post office to send my final (hopefully) piece of correspondence relating to my jaywalking infraction in LA. I need to send the damn thing certified mail so these people will get out of my life. I walked over to the Wall Street Station. It’s friday at noon, hell hour at the post office normally. It dawns on me that a post office is kind of the last place i want to be right now. As i walk in i realize it’s the last place anyone wants to be right now. I am the only customer. The Only Customer! This is unreal. I have spent 20 minutes waiting in line at this post office just to use the stamp machine. The Stamp Machine!
“Wow, so deserted?”, i comment to the lady. She shrugs. I shrug back.
All of Wall St is strangely deserted actually. There’s more people than on a saturday, but nothing like the lunch throngs that made me miserable in August. Barely a line at “the good sandwich place”. Ordinarily i’d look at the bright side, less lines, less agrivation, more room. But i really can’t. The bright side isn’t really very bright. Especially after exhaling a lungful of burnt skyscraper. Burnt skyscraper smell is awful, and still pretty intense down here. When i get off the C train at Broadway Nassau it’s a straight shot to the bottom of the burnt south tower. And the road is all white-ish yellow-ish with ash. The rain and street sweepers wash it away, all it takes is a light breeze to bring it back.
I walked along broadway to look the other day. There were lots of lookers, lots of cameras. I couldn’t be pissy at the tourists, after all i am one myself now, sorta.
As i walk to “the good sandwich place”, i try to take in the 30 or 40 story skyscrapers that crowd the narrow streets. They’re immense already. It’s all pretty heavy. And i get the impression that people here are done talking, done taking it all in.
New Angeles Monthly, June 2008
Weekend America, March 30, 2008
Los Angeles Times, March 13, 2008
Los Angeles Times, March 6, 2008
Nil by Mouth is written by Neille Ilel. Neille is a writer, reporter and user interface specialist in Los Angeles. If you think that's a lot, she's also got a host of meandering sidelines including improv comedy, tennis, cooking, drawing and thinking about learning to play the guitar.
Nil is her given name. It's a long story.
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