My lungs were working harder than a blacksmith’s bellows against white fire. When I made it to the small white-stone landing it felt like I had reached the century mark. Every progressive Easy was a few years older and weaker than the last.
I also had the almost hallucinatory impression of leaving an image of myself on each passing stair. Between the pain in my ankle, the dizziness, and the unfamiliar strain on the muscles pulling my bodyweight upward I felt like a juggler forced to ply his trade just a few seconds after being shaken out of a deep sleep. Those stairs might have been one of the seven trials of Hercules. I estimated twenty-one white stone-like steps to the upper landing.
I took the step up to the brick courtyard and strode in six paces to the bottom of the stairs. I was going just fine but at any moment the flow might begin to sputter. I was like a sentient gas engine that suspected that the fuel gauge was past empty. I was walking just as well as any other man one step after another, evenly, in a forward motion.īut when I got to the little raised patio that served as a buffer between the two buildings I stopped before taking the step up. When I noticed the discord of coloration my step began, ever so slightly, to falter.Īll that means is that I’m still a little weak, I said to myself. The concrete used to lay the path had been tinted a blue color that was meant to match with the turquoise plaster of the buildings – instead it clashed. That got me to the concrete path at the side of the front apartment building. I was up on my feet and walking just as if I was a living man in the real world who knew about gravity but didn’t worry about it bringing him down. The first nine steps were a real pleasure. OL24227455W Page_number_confidence 89.20 Pages 326 Partner Innodata Pdf_module_version 0.0.20 Ppi 300 Rcs_key 24143 Republisher_date 20201127111200 Republisher_operator Republisher_time 475 Scandate 20201125045609 Scanner Scanningcenter cebu Scribe3_search_catalog isbn Scribe3_search_id 9781780226057 Tts_version 4.Author Walter Mosley recently joined Jeffrey Brown for a conversation on the PBS NewsHour about his latest novel, “Little Green.” Now you can read a passage from that new book. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 19:13:16 Boxid IA40003321 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier
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