In Memoriam

Appropriately gray skies on a sad and solemn day. This giant flag suspended from fire ladders across Yonkers Avenue yesterday was in honor of John Peteani, a firefighter who worked at Ground Zero and lost his long battle with the cancer he got as a result last Sunday.

The funeral was yesterday, and the police and fire departments of Yonkers and the surrounding communities did a wonderful job honoring his service. I'm tearing up remembering the funeral procession from the church to the cemetery, and how on every overpass on the highway fire trucks were parked with the crew standing at attention, saluting as we passed beneath.

Rest in Peace, John.

Summer after the fire

There have actually been several summers after the fire -- this lot, next door to my friend's house in Yonkers, has been a ruin for many years now.

It's bleak and empty in winter, but now, in the thick of summer, it looks like the setting for a romance novel or a treasure hunt. (If such things ever happen in Yonkers.)

I spent maybe ten minutes over there yesterday, wanting to capture the afternoon sun on the bricks, but that was long enough for some invisible species of greedy bloodsuckers to attack my ankles. I have several dozen bites, mostly on my lower legs, and today my ankles are twice their normal size, covered in big red lumps. Big red itchy lumps. I've tried a cold shower, calamine lotion and petroleum jelly, but nothing helps.

I tried reading. I try to distract myself. But eventually I have to give in, and once I've scratched whichever bite is itching the most at the moment, I can't stop until I've thoroughly scratched them all.