©ESR 2008

This was the beginning of something…I may revisit it someday.

Smoke hovers out of the storm drains, the city never did bother to clean out the growing waste of used guns shells and broken-tipped knives clogging up the sewers. The humidity of the crowded back alleys only makes the smoke heavier. In this part of town there are more visitors than Lady Liberty yet they never stay long. Those “good society” people come here to satisfy their black hearts, scurrying in those darkened corners or perched in stained doorways looking for something they don’t know, looking around but sticking out like a misplaced homeless man with a cardboard sign reading “hits for hire” in the middle of a Macy’s store. Deals to be made or deals to be broken, it just depends on which window you’re looking out of

The type of people that call this place home are those people that you don’t want to double cross. They have seen the hard world around them and know how to pack it, as well as how to use it. They protect themselves, those who are under their wings and on their payrolls. Men who carry in the open and women who carry between their thighs.

There is power in these alleyways power that scare people. And they should be afraid of the deep forces that gather here. People always say there is a right and wrong way of doing things. However the same can be said about people in general. Here your life can depend on whose deal has gone right or wrong and if you’re dealing with the ladies you have better hope there is no blood between their legs their own or otherwise.

    Like a scene from a C rated gangster movie a lone figure watches the streets below not at all surprised by the sights before her. She belongs here and in a way she does not, there are mysteries about her that no one knows. Her small apartment is sooty at best yet this is her office. Sitting in her window, she flicks on a soft red light. To some its a small beacon of hope or a signal of warmth and safety, a place of no judgments or no critiques. They come and get what they want and leave; some come back while others this is just a one time deal. However it’s her place her rules and her body that she is selling. To the outsiders she is just another common whore but to those who know her true profession she is the top of her game and no one would dare not pay her upfront.