Free time17:27 Jul 29 2009
Times Read: 751
I climb the stairs to the 16th and 17th floors;
the elevators no longer ascend to this height.
The temperature rises.
The smell of stale air, old and dry, assails my nose
I imagine the air inside the pyramids;
baked by the sun
but clean,
as the dust has not been stirred by feet for 3,000 years.
The door opens and I see a floor occupied by no one for decades.
Lights, long unused, throw shadows in every doorway; only every 4th light fixture is on.
The original 9”x9” floor tiles, tan with brown streaks, gleam under a quarter inch of wax.
The walls are cracked, exposing plaster on metal lathe.
Age-yellowed marble wall base and trim.
Looking in a janitor’s closet, door ajar,
a single unfrosted incandescent bulb hangs from twin electrical wires,
wrapped in threadbare, woven insulation,
operated by pull-string.
The hallway flows into the secretarial pool;
hand cranked pencil sharpeners mounted on hard plaster walls
frequent ceiling mounted lights; one for each pair of hands.
Do you hear the echo of long gone stiletto heels; the tap of the ocean of typewriters?
No; only the hum of dying fluorescent light ballasts
and the hiss of air sneaking past closed HVAC dampers from floors below.
Wiring, added after the building was constructed,
runs in channels along baseboards; the walls too hard to penetrate.
Bulletin boards remain,
Announcements and policy changes,
Photos of company events, dated 1958.
Continue through to the executroid offices;
Mahogany Row.
Oak paneling and six-figure salaries back in the 1950s.
Thick carpet remembers the footprints of furniture that once resided here;
Oak desks, walnut credenzas, teak end tables.
An open walk-in safe contains inventory tags, work orders and receipts
From 50 years ago.
The ghosts here were old before I was born.
COMMENTS
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LilacHades
19:04 Jul 29 2009
tales of abandon and woe for a building long forgotten , lost to the passing of time ..
Joli
02:54 Jul 30 2009
This recalled for me an old Twilight Zone episode! It's wonderful.