City Dreaming

I accessed a very old memory last night, lying on my airbed in the living room of Juli's apartment. With my eyes closed, and my ears ignoring everything but the sounds from the busy street below, I was transported back to my grandparent's apartment in Los Angeles.

I think I was about 10 years old when they lived at that apartment on Manchester Avenue, right off the freeway, just down the street from the donut shop with the giant plaster donut on its roof. I remember staying overnight with them, drifting off to sleep to the whoosh of cars and busses, the occasional horn, and the tick of a clock in the room.  

Kerne and Juli have such a clock. The electric busses stop right at their corner, zizzing by as their overhead connections crackle. The engine and tire noises from cars as they go over the street bumps waft up to the 3rd floor windows. As I snuggled down in my sleeping bag last night, my last thoughts were memories of my DeFazio grandparents, gone for so long now, but never forgotten.