Nil by Mouth

i just went to the

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.

• Nov 2