sugar's bend

seth watched his feet as he walked the tight foot trail that ran along the eastern wall of the railway and he instinctively skirted the scrap metal heaps and rusted barrels without looking up from the path. he was making good time. there was a patch of pristine concrete canvas about twelve miles out of town and seth was getting an early start. it was only a matter of time before one of the other crews spotted the recently painted section and “owned” it. once a section was owned by a tagger, the ownership rights were respected. it was a certain “honor among thieves” code that was understood and almost never disputed. seth dropped the heavy sack strap from his left shoulder and repositioned it to his right side as the bag of spray cans clanked in rhythm with his step. it was late september and the bitter chicago wind rode the walls of the bleak tracks for miles like a team of ghosts on an endless luge run. he pulled his hood down a little tighter. seth had been with the west-shadow crew for eight months but he had yet to seal his place on the street with a breakout piece. seth’s handstyle and throws had been called into question by blaze and t-wiz and now his street-credentials were on the line. “prolly take 'least six hours, maybe five if the weather holds.” he thought as looked up into the dark gray chicago morning. seth started into the long curve around h-town known as “sugar’s bend.” sugar was a respected tagger from new york who got clipped by a freighter along the narrowing section of track between h-town and lowery heights five years ago. sugar had owned up to a “fresh concrete” at the center of the bend and had worked a full preliminary outline and started his first set of piecing on the fifty foot section when the freighter hit. they say you never hear the train that gets you. out of respect, no tagger ever touched the unfinished mural again. seth paused in front of sugar’s masive section and slowly read the faded outline of letters in his mind, “m-o-t-h-e-r-f-u-c-k-e-r.”

2 comments:

Mere Existence said...

I think this one's my favorite so far. No blatant tricks, but you were pulling me in two directions simultaneously.

Perfect Virgo said...

Not confined to a single style he's dashed off another little beauty! Poignant my friend. This is sad and I'm not used to that here. Did I glimpse the sparkle of a semi-hidden gem (luge!)