The Street Sweepers
Something small into something bigger?
Monday 07 September 2009 at 03:57 am. Used tags: original, writingI recently penned this short story at ficly.com, and it managed to attract some attention. It seems like a good jumping off point for me for a collection of urban fantasy short stories:
Nobody sees this side of the city but us: The donut-shop owners starting their machines. The street walkers who didn’t catch the right eye. The lonely taxi drivers making circles around the park. The staggering drunks. The beat cops. The street sweepers.
We see the stuff the rest of you don’t. The stuff you leave behind in the gutters, the stuff hidden under a million trampling feet until the bars close and the traffic lights cycle over empty intersections. The trash. The secrets.
There are bills—tens, twenties, fifties. There are whole wallets. Playbills and stuffed animals and shopping lists. There are bullets. Condoms. There are photos of smiling families. Takeout menus. Joints. Wedding rings.
And there’s more: Hastily scrawled chalk symbols that cats won’t cross. Shadows with no one to make them. Silver dishes of milk and blood left on fire escapes.
And once, a single golden feather that floated up and caught the moonlight until it was just the flashing of another plane leaving for anywhere but here.
One comment
I’m glad that the bird that flew into my house didn’t leave any creepy upward-floating golden feathers… I’m eager to read more of your urban fantasy short stories — and I’m sure Neil Gaiman would quickly become a fan!
Andrea (URL) - 07-09-’09 11:23