above the lid level, I could see a sidewalk, and there was no movement in the area, at least not from my side; nobody was walking around in front, and I didn’t hear anything from behind. At least there wouldn’t be any talk or reports about a strange man who came up out of a drain after midnight.
I gave it one last heave, and the lid opened wide enough for me to escape. I slowly climbed out of the hole, then slowly lowered the lid back into place, taking care so there would be no clanging sound. I thought about leaving fingerprints on this manhole cover, but at the moment was too tired to do anything about them.
Looking around to see my location, I sat down to put my socks and shoes back on, not wanting to attract attention on the way home. I searched the sky for the North Star, trying to figure out which direction to start walking in order to get home; it was cloudy. We were still south of my house when the helicopter spotted us; I’m sure I had crawled over a mile, but because of a few turns in the drain I may have gone east or west, or even back in the direction I had started from. Thinking on this, north was still my destination, and I started walking, looking for street signs on each corner; maybe I could at least figure out which neighborhood I was in.
Fatigue was setting in, but if all my estimations were right, at least I wouldn’t have to walk too far. I came up to a readable street sign, and got my bearings. Good thing I knew this town like the back of my hand; I had played on many of these streets as a child, having classmates in different sections of the city. Janet Field, the neighborhood baseball field, was near; it had been named after a little cheerleader who passed away from cancer. Maybe I could find a working water faucet and wash up a bit. All parks were closed at night; gates to the roads leading in were shut and locked to traffic, but since I was on foot, that wouldn’t be a hindrance.
I walked in the direction of the park and thought about what I had just done. I’d emerged from the belly of the beast, like Jonah from the big fish, although I hadn’t been down there for three days, thank goodness. If I had, I probably wouldn’t have had the energy to push the lid up, or to even crawl to an easier exit point. I wondered if Jonah had survived on seaweed. The only thing I saw growing in the drain was mushrooms, and I didn’t know enough about them to know if they were safe to eat. I should be grateful I got out when I did, or else they might have started looking good to me.
Arriving at Janet Field, I found a working faucet and washed up the best I could; I drank and drank until I couldn’t hold anymore. Who would have thought warm water could taste so good? I ran water over my shoes and the lower parts of my blue jeans; they were wet already, but I would rather be wet with clean water than stagnate drain water.
Home and bed were the destination now. I headed to the north side of the park and walked down Finley Street. Good thing there was no traffic; I’d look like a wandering vagrant, and in the age of cell phones someone could call the cops on me. I could just see myself answering questions to a policeman. Who am I? Where do I live? What am I doing out in the middle of the night? Why do I smell like a wet rat? Were you part of the FBI murders? Don’t I have better things to be doing than being out for a walk in the middle of the night? I hoped I would be able to answer questions without making a policeman mad. I’m sure I looked like a criminal.
It was quiet for a short while, then a backyard dog noticed me and started barking. This in turn got all the dogs in the neighborhood stirred up, and I was greeted by barking, fenced-in dogs as I moved down the street. You could gauge the sizes of the dogs by their barks: the deeper the growl, the bigger the dog. Some were louder than others; thank goodness