Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The side walk and street only got worse further down. The odd thing about it was David noticed was that everything started to change from warehouses, industrial and square storefronts to older and more architecturally elaborate and older structures. They became more ornamental and pretty, although some modern and ugly building still popped out here and there, but everything was still neglected and run down nun the less. Not a soul had been here for many decades.  David could tell that a nice society once existed here.

Walking further in, An old clothing store came into David's view on the right side of the street. The mannequins were still in the windows. They’re faces were dirty and smudged. They still were wearing clothes although they too were dirty and torn, half hanging off they’re twisted bodies. David looked closer at they’re haunting faces. Each mannequin had erie smiles plastered on they're faces despite they’re wretched condition. Its like the society they were in was destroyed all around them but they did’nt seem to notice, forever looking out onto the world with a blank star unaware of they’re tragic existence, waiting and hoping in vein for a society of people to come in and clean up this place and start a new society to walk by and look at them again. If only they knew what David knew that that society would never be here again.

What was even more odd is that they still had clothes on them. But they wern’t modern clothes. The style of them looked like they were out of the thirties or forties. As a matter of fact David noticed that they looked a lot like the clothes that Gracie was wearing. David glanced back and forth at Gracie and the clothes of the mannequins. She matched this place very well and he could see why she was drawn to it. Its like she came walking out of the distant past just like everything else here.

They kept going, on and on, minute after minute, and the street only got darker as they went until the objects and building around them looked only like ghostly shapes in shades of black and the soft whitish blue of the moonlight.

After about thirty minutes of walking Gracie lifted her hand and pointed. “Look there’s the Hotel!"

David could see the top of a tall shadowy mansion like building popping out over the tops of the old stores they were walking by. They walked the rest of the way down the block and into the intersection of the street the Hotel was on. Now the hotel was in full view and David got the full sense of its immensity. It was a intimidatingly large Hotel with a menacing quality about it. The site of it was really too much for David to take in at once.

They walked right up to the side corner of the structure and Gracie stopped right in front of a rusty metal door. “Well this is the place.” She said, grabbing the handle of the slightly opened door. She jerked on it and was having a hard time getting it open. David observed the building as Gracie fiddled with the door.

It was very old, about thirty stories high, lifeless and dark. Parts of it have collapsed. David looked about the surrounding area and all the smaller structures surrounding the Hotel.

There was no indication of any building that looked remotely modern in this area. Everything here was built in the twenties or earlier. Just down the street on the opposite side of the street was an old theater. It was taller than anything else around here besides the Hotel. It was dark but David could still see in big letters: The Crest Theater hanging over the main entrance of the building.

 It also had elaborate architecture with a towering deco style marquee which still had the movie tittles displayed on it. It looked like the marquee was made up of thousands of little colored lights. David wished they would light up now to brighten up the dark depressing street, but the marquee was as cold and dark as the buildings surrounding it.

Filling the other side of the street was the usual abandoned old stores and shops. The only other thing that stood out was the big gas pumps that were were apart of an old gas station that was on the corner of the intersection they just came from. David studied the Hotel more. It took up the whole block of this side of the street and all across its front were black lifeless windows that gave a horrible feeling that someone was looking through back out at him.

Gracie noticed David looking around and up and down the street. “I know it looks pretty bad but its better in the light of day”. Gracie said trying to make it seem less deplorable. "You’ll feel better once we get up to the room."

Gracy continued to yank on the door and it finally swung all the way open with a clanky metal sound. Gracy stood there holding the door open waiting for David to walk in. She still had the air of a desperate person looking for a friend about her, hoping David wouldn’t be turned off by all this. David stood their motionless looking into the dark opening, hesitant to walk into it.

“Don’t worry, its safe.” Gracy said as she walked through the doorway, validating her statement. She stood inside the doorway looking back out at David. She raised her open hands up slightly gesturing David to look in at the place. “See there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

David slowly walked in with his eyes not on Gracy but the blackness of the room, his wide open eyes struggling to find a inkling of light to focus on.

“Here I better get my flashlight out.” Gracy said. She reached inside one of her pockets pulling out a small skinny penlight and clicked it on illuminating the immediate area around them, relieving David’s anxiety a little. Gracy grabbed the door and slammed it shut with an echoey clank. She looked as if she was afraid of someone else walking in behind them.

“Watch it, there is a lot of stuff lying around, some of it is broken glass.”

The beam of light illuminated a lot of countless twinkly broken glass pieces on the ground as well as a bunch of other debris as her light moved across it. Gracie whipped the light forward and they moved deeper in.

They came to a wide staircase. "My room is about seven stories up, carefull on these stairs, parts of it are broken." She started to walk up the stairs, carefully casting the beam of her light on the steps making sure she didn't step in the wrong place. "Just step where I step and you’ll be all right." She said walking up.

David stayed close behind her with his eyes looking down on the stairs as they cracked with each step he took. He noticed in the dim light that the color of the carpet covering the stair case was crimson, although it was covered in suite and grime. The color barley showed through anymore.

They climbed the winding staircase walking around piles of debris and holes until they reached the seventh floor. "This way." Gracie repeated, clearing the last step. David found himself following her down a hallway with the floor covered with the same crimson colored carpet. David noticed the carpet most of all because it is the only color that this dank gloomy place portrayed at the moment. The staircase continued to windup to the upper floors but they were terribly broken and unstable and David could see why Gracy picked this floor to get off on.

 The dark hallway had doors lining the sides. They were doors to the different guest rooms this Hotel once had. Some doors were still there, all the way closed or hanging from their hinges. Others doors were completely gone making it unnerving for David to walk by the black openings; again David had the horrible feeling that he had on the outside when looking in through the Hotel widows; the feeling of someone or something looking out at him from those rooms. The faint light that Gracy was casting on them barley allowed David to see a foot inside the doorways. David tried not to peer into those doors fearing that a direct look at them would invite something to pop out at him. Most of the door-less rooms had junk filling the base of the opening and into the hallway.

They passed one door to a room the was completely shut and had the words “Fuck off” spray painted on it in big orange letters. David could imagine some Transient writing that on there trying to sound dangerous, a feeble attempt to sound intimidating to keep others out.

Finally Gracy turned into and stopped in front of one of the hallway doors. David noticed that most of the junk had been swept away from Its base.

“This is my place.” Gracy said. She pulled a key out from the thick layers of her clothing and slid it in the lock of the door nob. David noticed that the nob was all shiny and new looking compared to the old chipped and dirty door it was attached to. “I got this door nob at a store with a five finger discount. It came with its own key so I can lock it when ever I want.”

David looked at it closer. What was weird about it is that although it was new, the style of it still looked old. It fit the style of all the other old designs of the Hotel. It was like Gracy just polished the old nob up to a perfect shine. Gracy pushed the door open and it creaked like a stereotypical old door. She quickly shut the door behind them after David walked in and turned the little latch Locking the door.

“This lock makes me feel a lot safer."

Gracy turned away from the door and started toward the middle of the room. Even with the dim light of Gracy’s flash light, David could see a huge change in how the floor looked. It was swept clear of junk and was fairly clean. There were even little area carpets here and there where it looked like Gracy tried to hide the ugly faded and dirty boards underneath.

Gracy went over to a lantern sitting on an old table. She fished through her pockets and pulled something out. David watched a bright light flare up around the sides of her body. David realized she had just lit the lantern with a match. She turned around towards David while waving the match out with her hand.

“There that’s better." Gracy faced David who was curiously looking around the room. “Well what do you think?" Gracy asked wanting to get a verbal response from him about what he was seeing.

David continued to look around without saying anything.

“It’s good." David finally said.

“It’s good?" Gracy repeated amused by his response.

“It’s nice." David said quickly correcting his bad English. He kept looking around the room.

“I have a nice light source here." Gracy said, waving her hand in front of the lantern which was giving a surprising amount of light, casting dark dancing shadows around the room. “It burns for a long time before I have to refill it. It’s a good alternative to doing without electricity.”

“I got it down stairs. Most everything in here I got from different rooms of this Hotel." Gracy gleamed at all her stuff.

David noticed some Christmas ornaments and tinsel hanging from the left wall up high. It was barely visible in the dark room. It let off little bits of sparkling deep dark colored light. Gracy saw that David was looking up at it. “I got those from this hotel too. They were in a big cardboard box down in the basement room." Gracy admired the ornaments along with David. “They are pretty aren't they. They seem to be really old antiques. They were just abandon here just like everything else in the Hotel." Gracy looked back down at David. “Isn’t it amazing how someone can just abandon and forget something so beautiful?"

  “Yeah..” David agreed, slowly turning his eyes back up at the ornaments.

Gracy quickly pulled herself out of her awkward sentimentality and grabbed David’s arm pulling him down to the little square of carpet that was beneath him. “Here, you sit there. I am going to make us a little camp fire." She grabbed the lantern off of the table and placed it on the floor in between them. She pulls another small rug closer to David and the lantern and sits down directly across from him and wiggled and shifted trying to get comfortable in her seat.

In a comical way David raised his hands to the flame of the lantern as if it was a campfire giving off heat. Gracy noticed and played along raising her hands to the flame in the same way. They both exchanged smiles. Gracy rubbed her hands together to sell that she got the joke.

“Hey!” Gracy blurted out in a lively way, keeping in-line with the overly sugary humor that was in the air between them. “I have a great idea. Tomorrow we can go Christmas tree hunting. This place could really use one. It’s just not Christmas without a Christmas tree. Don’t you think?”

 “Yeah!” David agreed hardily. The creept out feeling he had do to this place subsided, taken over by the joy of the thought of having a real Christmas tree. Gracie could see a joyful spirit glowing in his eyes. They did have a tree at the shelter but this time it would be his own, while being with someone that truly liked him. “Where can we get one?” David asked with excitement.

“Well there’s nothing around here. The only thing around here is concrete and weeds.” Gracie rolled her eyes up and raised up the side of her mouth in thought. “Hmmmm… we might have to take a trip back into the city, I know a place where we can get on. I have a little money and it might be enough for a tree. I would have gotten one earlier but I believe a Christmas tree is something that should be shared with another person.”

David nodded in agreement. “Where’s the place where you’re going to get it?”

Every time I go into the city I see a small parking lot where they Christmas trees. The bus I ride passes right by it but I can’t get off the bus to look at them because it would take to long for the next bus. This time we’ll get off anyway just to look at them.” Gracie said now with stars in her eyes this time, like the stars David was seeing. Gracie grabbed her purse and dug her hand inside to pull out a little money bag she had inside of it. She opened the bag and pulled out a small wad of bills that were all folded and crumpled.

“Where do you get your money?” David asked, watching her fumble and unwad the crinkled bills in her hands. She paused and brought her eyes from the money and answered David in a whimpery manner.

“I pan handle.” She said the words like she was expecting judgement from David.

“Oh.” 

Gracie lit back up with enthusiasm. “Anyway, we can probably get a tree with this.” She continued to unwad the bills.

“How will be get the tree back here?” David puzzled.

“I don’t know.” Gracie said, again pausing her money count. David could see he had stumped her. “I guess we can bring it on the bus if it’s small enough.”

“Will the bus driver let us?”

“I don’t know, we will have to wait and see. I’m certainly not going to let some stinkin bus driver ruin my Christmas!” Gracy stuffed the money back into her purse with irritation in her voice. She then changed her concerns. “Hey, are you warm enough? Do you need a blanket or anything?”

“No, it’s really not that cold out tonight. This place helps to keep the cold off you. It’s better than the other place I was sleeping in. The cold air comes right down on top of you when you’re sleeping outside.”

“Yeah, there’s really nowhere in the busy part of the city where you can sleep comfortably. There you feel like a bum or freak. I have this beautiful place all to myself. I feel like an Ares aboard the Titanic here.” Gracy was in a romantic state of mind.

David had a hard time grasping the thought of this place being like that. “No one bothers you here? I mean, aren’t there other homeless people around here?”

“No not that I have seen. There’s a lot of signs that other homeless people have lived here but I haven’t seen any other living soul since I’ve been here.”

David looked around at the walls and at the door as if he was looking through them at possible bums that could be on the other side. He imagined someone suddenly breaking down the door trying to get at them. The thought of it chilled him to the bone. “How did you find this place?” he inquired.

Gracie reached over and adjusted the flame of the lantern as she answered David’s question. “I was riding that bus one day through this area and I just had an overwhelming feeling to get off, and so I did, right at that bus stop we got off at.”

Gracie paused her talking for a moment, almost like she waiting for David to approve of her decision of picking this place to live. “On the bus I noticed how run down and abandon looking these buildings where. I noticed how lonely and forgotten they looked. I guess some how they reminded me of how I always felt most of the time. Most people would hate this area if they saw it and want to get as far away from it as possible, but I felt a connection with it.”

David thought about what she had said. He thought how he would never come near this area by himself. The place was creepy but in a way he also felt a connection to it, even though he couldn’t explain it. Maybe it was just the feeling of having a beautiful woman in his presence.

“But where did you come from. What have you been doing all this time?” David asked like that was the question of all time.

Gracie sat there and thought about that for a moment. “Like where were you sleeping when you were in the populated part of the city?”

“I really don’t remember.” Gracie looked down at the floor. David could see from her expression like his question evoked unpleasant memories. "I’ve been homeless for a long time. I don’t think I’ve ever had a home.” Gracie said the words like she was in a trance of thought, a trans of regret and of lost time.

“Im afraid when I told you I was sick it goes a lot further than just wearing odd clothes and saying weird things. The truth is my sickness effects my memory. The only memories I have are fragmented and seem more like dreams. I can’t remember where I come from or how long I have been on this earth. I don’t even know how old I am. A lot of times I can’t remember what I did the day before.”

“What about this place. How did you remember how to find this place?” David asked in a prying tone, but he didn't think about that. He was starting to realize how much of a unsolvable riddle this woman was. He was becomeing flustered that he couldn't figure her out.

“Well that’s the thing, this is the only place that my mind and memory seem to work. It seems this is the only place I am really happy. I know that may be hard to understand. I fear I must really be crazy.” Gracie concluded lifting her eyebrows.

“You might do things that are different but I wouldn’t say your crazy.” David reassured her trying to make her feel better.

“Wow!” Gracie blurted out, giggling like a school girl. “You just keep surprising me!”

“What?” David let Gracie’s laughter trigger his own.

“You really are wise for your age.”

David didn’t really know how to respond to that. “No, I mean if you were really crazy you would be like one of those people that walk down the street talking to themselves.”

“I talk to myself sometimes.” Gracie said almost like she was bragging about it. At this point David didn’t know if she was crazy or if she just liked the idea of being crazy. Now David really studied her, trying to to see her as she really was.

“So you don’t remember anything about your past?” David kind of felt bad about repeatedly asking her this. He could see the expression in her face as she thought about it that she really didn’t know and he could tell she really didn’t want to talk about it.

“I don’t…” Gracy mumbled, not knowing what to say. She quickly got up and started dancing like…. Around the room. “I’m from here!” Gracie said kidding around not being serious and trying to fluff off David’s question. David’s confusion turned to amusement as he watch her fool around. She continued to act like she was dancing at a ball with another person, some unseen partner. She started humming some music. “This place is like an old mansion and this is the ball room.” Gracy said whimsically. “Actually there is a ball room down stairs.” Gracie stopped dancing when she realized this. “It’s a giant room with big windows and flowing curtains. Do you want to see it?”

“Right now?” David asked hesitantly,not really wanting to go back downstairs and out of the security of this room.

“No I meant tomorrow mourning silly!” Gracie came back over to her spot in front of David and sat back down. “I can give you a tour of this place tomorrow when it daylight and brighter in here.” Gracie went on to tell David more about the Hotel and some of the things she has done here. They continued to talk for another hour and David got to know this person a little better. She talked on and on about this old hotel and some of the places around it. David got the feeling this is the only place she has been or even cared about.

David didn’t have much to tell her either. His life mostly consisted of depressing memories of that shelter. It was enough that he had this beautiful woman’s company and he hoped she felt the same way about him. She seemed to be interested in everything David said no matter how uninteresting he thought his words were. He guessed that she was just lonely enough to stay interested.

All the while as he talked, and she talked and David listened, he got a good sense of her personality. Her old fashion dress looked like it came from the same era as this hotel. Everything about her sounded old fashioned, even her words. At the same time he admired her pretty face, he felt sorry for her because of her attachment to things so old. Even though most of her subject matter was about this hotel, she talked about interesting things and she kept David’s undivided attention, plus he just liked listening to the sound of her voice.

“What time is it?” Gracie finally said. She looked out the window.

“I don’t know.”

“It must be pretty late.” Gracie took in a deep breath with a slight smile. She seemed relieved and satisfied, like their conversation was therapeutic for her, like she really needed it, and she really did. “I suppose we’d better turn in.”

“Yeah probably.” David concurred, reluctant to end their conversation.

“Do you have anything for covers?” Gracie asked noticing David’s big bundle. If not I have some extra blankets.” She pointed to some clean, neatly folded blankets in the corner of the room.

“I have this sleeping bag.” David yanked on a section of it.

“You can use these if that’s not enough.” Gracy got up and walked over to the blankets. “They are fairly thick.” She picked them up and held them in her arms, holding them up presenting them to David.

“Well this usually keeps me warm enough.”

“Oh.” Gracy lowered the blankets and started to put them back where they were. “Well if you need them they’ll be right here.” David could see she was disappointed that he didn’t want to use her blankets and he felt guilty, but his not wanting to seem week in front of her kept him from accepting her offer. Even at his young age bull headed pride was strong within him.

Gracie walked over to another stack of blankets and spread them out in the spot where she was sitting across from David. David rolled his sleeping bag out in his spot. He watched Gracie take off her hat. Her short hair was indeed black and it jetted out her and there, un-even from the hat.

Her hat is all that she took off, then she climbed into bed with all her clothes still on just like David. He instantly got a feeling of familiarity when he saw this.. that she did the same thing as he did, also a feeling of understanding. When you spend a while on the street, the cold forces you into a habit of not wanting to take your clothes off, ever. She ruffled the covers and stuffed herself into them until she felt the warmth of them which triggered a lazy smile on her face. Seeing David’s face across from her instead of nothing, lit up with warm light from the lantern, made the comforting coziness that much more pleasurable. “It’s just like camping isn’t it.”

David observed their situation. The yellow bright lights of the lantern was indeed comforting. He could imagine looking upon them laying there from a distance. The lantern would be a small point of light surrounded by all the darkness.

“It’s amazing how a cheap old lantern could provide so much comfort, and it burns for hours.” Gracie said. David looked at the flame of the lantern. He imagined how cold and depressing this place would be if they didn’t have this cheap worthless old lantern. Gracie was right. It was interesting how something no one else would give two cents for could bring so much comfort to them.

David really was tired and he could feel the exhaustion creep into him and he closed his eyes listening to Gracie talk. He fell asleep and was woken up a few minutes after falling asleep by Gracie Periodic mumblings. “My feet are cold.” she was now saying.

As tiered as David was he politely responded to ‘gracies comment with his eyes kept shut. “Oh yeah.”

She continued to blurt out sporadic thoughts for about a half hour but then Davids tiered mind couldn’t keep up with her and he permanently fell asleep.