The Bureau of Dreams to be Continued by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
Download the book in PDF, ePub, Kindle for a complete version.
The Bureau of Dreams to be Continued
Page 758
They were there again. The idlers.
Not homeless, not tourists, not even loiterers in the traditional sense. These were men and women who stood in clusters, unmoving, unspeaking, their eyes tracking Victor as he passed. Some leaned against scaffolding as if waiting for a cue. Others stood in doorways, arms crossed, faces blank. One man in a trench coat held a newspaper upside down. A woman in a red beret stared at a payphone as if it might ring.
Victor adjusted his pace. He wasn’t afraid, not exactly. But the air felt charged, like the moment before a subway train roars into the station. He passed a group outside a shuttered deli; three figures, all wearing identical gray hoodies, all chewing gum in perfect sync. One of them winked.
At 46th, a man with a clipboard stepped into Victor’s path.
“Do you have a moment for the future?” he asked.
Victor sidestepped him. “Already late for it,” he muttered.
The man didn’t follow. None of them did. That was the strangest part. They never obstructed, never spoke unless spoken to. But they were always there. Watching. Waiting.