Hannah Livingstone reached into her
pocket and pulled out her trusty compass. “Yep. Looks like we're on
the right course.”
“Your phone has the Map App; we could
just use that,” said her travel companion, Stan Morton. “And
while you're at it, we could call my mom and tell her to come and
pick us up.”
“Nobody ever became a great explorer
by calling their mom,” Hannah said, as she folded the compass and
slipped it back into her pocket. “Let's keep going—it's only
another block.” She started walking again at a brisk pace, with
Stan struggling to follow.
They turned onto Hayes Street at the
corner, then turned into the next alley. Hannah smiled when she saw
the ladder to the fire escape; it was still lowered from yesterday's
excursion. “All right, Stan. Up we go!” She started climbing the
ladder.
“God, we've been doing this for
hours,” he whined. “Can't we just go up on Donegan Lighthouse
again?”
“Everyone knows that one,” she
said. She was starting to regret bringing him along. “This one's
new—I just found it yesterday.”
It took some time, but eventually they
made it to the roof of the apartment building. Hannah went straight
for the ledge—she would pick a spot, step up onto the ledge, and
stay there for a few seconds, then hop off and find another spot.
Stan took this opportunity to catch his breath.
“This had better be at least as cool
as when we watched the 3 O'clock Elephant, start to finish,” he
said. Hannah paid no attention, focused as she was on her exploring.
“Here! Stand right here!” she
shouted, practically pulling Stanley to the edge of the building.
“Hey! Stop it!” Stan yelled.
“That's dangerous!”
“It's supposed to be dangerous, you
goober. Now stand right here and shut up.”
Stan resigned himself to his fate and
stepped up on the ledge. Hannah was practically shoving him up there,
but she also had a hand on his belt, to make sure he wouldn't fall.
When Stan was finally in the right place, he felt...nothing.
“Now what?”
“Shut up and listen. May have to wait
for it.”
“What am I listenin--” Then the
wind picked up, and Stan fell silent. Leaves rustled, but underneath
that, Stan could hear the branches creak as they swayed in the
breeze. Power lines vibrated, pushed by the wind even as they were
held tight to the poles. Birds landed on them and took off at random,
changing the pitch as they did so. A steady, but not constant, parade
of cars rolled by, their engines and tires adding to the effect. A
strong gust came in, and the vibrations from the wires grew more
intense...it started to sound like human voices.
It sounded like singing.
When the air was calm again, Stan
stepped down from the ledge. “Wow,” was all he could say.
“I know,” Hannah said, smiling.
art by Trinity Goeman
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