Snow Gives Way; part 01 of 04
Jul. 17th, 2018 01:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
touched_by_fireDanny pauses at the docks to close his eyes and breath the Manhattan air and listen to the city; his city. He’s finally home after fifteen years. His reverie is cut short when someone bumps him and he instinctively grabs his wallet, knocking the man’s hand aside at the same time. The man freezes at being caught and then bolts.
Danny doesn’t follow. He has other things to do.
Three blocks later, a homeless man is begging for change and being ignored by everyone else. Danny, not being one to ignore suffering, stops and digs out a twenty to give the man, but when he sees how badly scraped up the man’s feet are, he adds his shoes as well.
A few people passing by shake their head or scowl at him, but Danny doesn’t care. Suffering should be alleviated whenever possible.
On the other side of Greenwich Village, Danny stops at a bodega for a snack. The shopkeeper scowls at his lack of shoes, but Danny shows him a ten dollar bill and mimes asking permission to enter; which the shopkeeper gives, begrudgingly. While he’s trying to decide between Ho-Hos or Twinkies a pair of robbers come in and begin shouting. It’s just Danny and the shopkeeper, so Danny steps over to the magazine rack, puts in his earbuds, and begins thumbing through a martial arts magazine.
The robber with the shotgun notices him first and gestures for the one with the baseball bat to take care of him.
Danny is careful not to react as the man comes over yelling at him to get on the floor and when he goes to poke him with the bat, Danny grabs it and jerks it hard into the man’s face, catching him in the cheek, nearly fracturing it.
The man goes down with a cry, and Danny immediately goes back to playing dumb.
Side-stepping to keep the shopkeeper in sight, the second robber comes over and begins yelling at Danny. Danny just nods his head along to non-existent music, needing to get the man closer before he can act. The man does so and just when he looks back to the shopkeeper, Danny grabs the end of the shotgun, pushing it back and twisting it sideways. With a cry the man’s trigger finger breaks, trapped in the guard, and he lets go.
With a smile, Danny hands the shopkeeper the baseball bat and shotgun, as well as five dollars for the Ho-Hos and Twinkies. Why pick one when you can have both?
He continues walking and eating, careful to throw the wrappers away in a trash can, and finally makes it to the Rand building. Soon he will have his answers…
Thirty minutes later, Danny is ejected from the building and still struggling with the after effects of a panic attack. How could things have gone so wrong? OK, maybe when the guards tried to kick him out the first few times, that should’ve been a hint of how things were going to be, but he was so sure he just needed to talk his way through. Why didn’t Ward and Joy know him? They were family, practically siblings, even if they came from different parents. And Harold, their father and his father’s business partner, dead?
Danny stood and focused on his breathing, but was interrupted by a guard telling him to get out of there. Nodding and making a placating gesture, Danny left.
Not quite paying attention to where he went, Danny was surprised to find himself on the block of his old family home, which lifted his mood. Smiling he walked faster until he was at his front door. Okay, it wasn’t really his front door anymore, but still if he could just see the inside for a moment.
He rang the bell and waiting, fighting to keep his enthusiasm from making him dance. He rang again and when still no one answered, he remembered the spare key above the door. Would it still be there? Leaping up, and grasping the door mantle, he reached blindly with fingers and found it...but of course the locks had been changed. Sighing, he leaped up, returning the key to its hiding place.
Danny turned to leave, but a few steps later noticed an open window on the second floor. Looking around casually, he ran a step or two, leap onto the wrought iron fence, onto the wall, scurried up to the balcony, and then he was in.
Stunned with old and new scents, the memories hit him hard. Walking in carefully, as if treding too heavily would break a spell or something, he spots photos of Joy and Ward, then a diploma of Joy’s. Smiling at her achievement, he turns to continue and pauses when he hears the growl.
Turning slowly, he sees a very large dog who doesn’t seem quite sure what to do. Moving slowly, and being sure to not seem threatening or overly friendly, Danny sits with his shins tucked beneath him and waits for the dog to calm, which is does. Then, standing and approaching carefully, Danny reaches out and softly closes the door to the room the dog was in.
Lost in memories and photos, Danny comes back to the present when he hears the front door latch. On soft feet, he leans carefully over the railing to look downstairs and see Joy enter. Knowing better than to startle her here, not after the meeting earlier, Danny makes his exit the way he came in and heads for the park he left his backpack in.
Settling in against the trunk of a tree, Danny cues up some music and opens his Tao Te Ching, hoping for some wisdom to counter the frustrations and disappointments of the day when a hand touches his shoulder. Looking up he sees a homeless man who is smiling faintly.
“Hey,” Danny says with a wan smile before turning back to his book.
“Hey. Uh uh, I didn’t mean to spook you,” the man says.
“I don’t really spook.” Danny smiles again and turns back to his book.
“I’m big Al.”
Danny stops his music and pulls his earbuds out. “Danny.”
“Don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”
“I’ve, uh, been away a while.”
“Traveler, huh? Yeah.”
“Kinda…”
“Nice iPod. I got an iPhone,” Al says taking a seat beside Danny.
“Nice,” Danny says and as they continue to talk, Danny can’t help the feeling that Al is NYC giving him a welcome back; even if none of the people he’d wanted to welcome him back did.
Danny doesn’t follow. He has other things to do.
Three blocks later, a homeless man is begging for change and being ignored by everyone else. Danny, not being one to ignore suffering, stops and digs out a twenty to give the man, but when he sees how badly scraped up the man’s feet are, he adds his shoes as well.
A few people passing by shake their head or scowl at him, but Danny doesn’t care. Suffering should be alleviated whenever possible.
On the other side of Greenwich Village, Danny stops at a bodega for a snack. The shopkeeper scowls at his lack of shoes, but Danny shows him a ten dollar bill and mimes asking permission to enter; which the shopkeeper gives, begrudgingly. While he’s trying to decide between Ho-Hos or Twinkies a pair of robbers come in and begin shouting. It’s just Danny and the shopkeeper, so Danny steps over to the magazine rack, puts in his earbuds, and begins thumbing through a martial arts magazine.
The robber with the shotgun notices him first and gestures for the one with the baseball bat to take care of him.
Danny is careful not to react as the man comes over yelling at him to get on the floor and when he goes to poke him with the bat, Danny grabs it and jerks it hard into the man’s face, catching him in the cheek, nearly fracturing it.
The man goes down with a cry, and Danny immediately goes back to playing dumb.
Side-stepping to keep the shopkeeper in sight, the second robber comes over and begins yelling at Danny. Danny just nods his head along to non-existent music, needing to get the man closer before he can act. The man does so and just when he looks back to the shopkeeper, Danny grabs the end of the shotgun, pushing it back and twisting it sideways. With a cry the man’s trigger finger breaks, trapped in the guard, and he lets go.
With a smile, Danny hands the shopkeeper the baseball bat and shotgun, as well as five dollars for the Ho-Hos and Twinkies. Why pick one when you can have both?
He continues walking and eating, careful to throw the wrappers away in a trash can, and finally makes it to the Rand building. Soon he will have his answers…
Thirty minutes later, Danny is ejected from the building and still struggling with the after effects of a panic attack. How could things have gone so wrong? OK, maybe when the guards tried to kick him out the first few times, that should’ve been a hint of how things were going to be, but he was so sure he just needed to talk his way through. Why didn’t Ward and Joy know him? They were family, practically siblings, even if they came from different parents. And Harold, their father and his father’s business partner, dead?
Danny stood and focused on his breathing, but was interrupted by a guard telling him to get out of there. Nodding and making a placating gesture, Danny left.
Not quite paying attention to where he went, Danny was surprised to find himself on the block of his old family home, which lifted his mood. Smiling he walked faster until he was at his front door. Okay, it wasn’t really his front door anymore, but still if he could just see the inside for a moment.
He rang the bell and waiting, fighting to keep his enthusiasm from making him dance. He rang again and when still no one answered, he remembered the spare key above the door. Would it still be there? Leaping up, and grasping the door mantle, he reached blindly with fingers and found it...but of course the locks had been changed. Sighing, he leaped up, returning the key to its hiding place.
Danny turned to leave, but a few steps later noticed an open window on the second floor. Looking around casually, he ran a step or two, leap onto the wrought iron fence, onto the wall, scurried up to the balcony, and then he was in.
Stunned with old and new scents, the memories hit him hard. Walking in carefully, as if treding too heavily would break a spell or something, he spots photos of Joy and Ward, then a diploma of Joy’s. Smiling at her achievement, he turns to continue and pauses when he hears the growl.
Turning slowly, he sees a very large dog who doesn’t seem quite sure what to do. Moving slowly, and being sure to not seem threatening or overly friendly, Danny sits with his shins tucked beneath him and waits for the dog to calm, which is does. Then, standing and approaching carefully, Danny reaches out and softly closes the door to the room the dog was in.
Lost in memories and photos, Danny comes back to the present when he hears the front door latch. On soft feet, he leans carefully over the railing to look downstairs and see Joy enter. Knowing better than to startle her here, not after the meeting earlier, Danny makes his exit the way he came in and heads for the park he left his backpack in.
Settling in against the trunk of a tree, Danny cues up some music and opens his Tao Te Ching, hoping for some wisdom to counter the frustrations and disappointments of the day when a hand touches his shoulder. Looking up he sees a homeless man who is smiling faintly.
“Hey,” Danny says with a wan smile before turning back to his book.
“Hey. Uh uh, I didn’t mean to spook you,” the man says.
“I don’t really spook.” Danny smiles again and turns back to his book.
“I’m big Al.”
Danny stops his music and pulls his earbuds out. “Danny.”
“Don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”
“I’ve, uh, been away a while.”
“Traveler, huh? Yeah.”
“Kinda…”
“Nice iPod. I got an iPhone,” Al says taking a seat beside Danny.
“Nice,” Danny says and as they continue to talk, Danny can’t help the feeling that Al is NYC giving him a welcome back; even if none of the people he’d wanted to welcome him back did.
