From: My Name is Isaiah/ A Detective Ryan Telford Novel

My name is Isaiah
And my name is death
All of you will shake
When you see my shadow
You cannot escape me
There is no safe place to go
I will choose my prey
From among you
You cannot stop my taking
You will fear to sleep
You will tremble
Upon your waking
My name is Isaiah
And you will tremble
At my passing
I bring fear, pain and death
And when I am gone
There will be no one laughing

Chapter Fifteen: The Street Glistens from the Falling Rain

The storm that had begun to brew in the late afternoon, over Lake Ontario started inching its way landward as the evening closed in. Thunder boomed in the distance and angry looking, dark clouds were ripped by bolt after bolt of lightning. As the night grew deeper upon its self, the storm gathered more strength.

Large raindrops carried by the strong south wind chased the multitudes away from Young street. The first to go were mothers pushing baby carriages or with toddlers in tow. Loud calls of “Hurry up Susie,” and, “Stop dawdling Johnnie,” were carried away by the gusting wind the minute they were brought into existence.

Few excuse me’s or pardons were offered, as they rushed down subway steps, almost running over business men folding up umbrellas.
Other young matrons scurried towards closing street car doors, shouting “Wait up,” and “Hold the door open,” as they half dragged a screaming little Susie and a howling little Johnny by scrawny arms.

The next to rush away were the shoppers, hoping for one more bargain from the street vendors. Vendors that were trying to fold up tables and secure their wares before the angry south wind scattered them from Front Street to Avenue Road.

Waiters and waitresses, attending the numerous sidewalk cafes, shooed away still hungry diners and shoved tips that belonged in a collective pot into pockets. Gusts of wind rattled dishes and a few were blown onto the ground, shattering into hundreds of pieces.

They young were the last to leave. Lovers clutched hands and raced for shelter. The ones who were unlucky in love looked on in envy before they too left the streets to the flotsam and jetsam that called the blocks from the waterfront to Bloor Street home.

The last of the evening throng disappeared faster than ice cream on a hot July day. This made way for the homeless and the down on their luck to find shelter from the storm. A few awnings that hadn’t been taken down cracked like whips as the wind gathered force.

Ladies of the evening, bums, pimps and coke heads huddled under these meagre shelters. A few lucky ones that had managed to beg or cajole enough money from the day crowd pushed their way into crowded bars. Each one of them hoped in their heart’s that the storm would be over before the money was gone.

Detective Ryan Telford pressed himself as close to the steel barred door of the clothing store, as he could manage. Most of his body was inside the little recessed entrance way. There just wasn’t enough room to pull in the feet attached to his long, gangly legs. Telford shrugged his shoulders and resigned himself to getting the bottom part of his legs soaked.

He turned for a minute and looked at the image reflected back at him from the glass door. Light from a nearby street light gleamed on his new shaven head. Ryan grinned at his image as a thought flitted through his mind. “Hell, my own mother wouldn’t know me now.”

The detective took a deep breath and gasped as the odour of his old cloths, of his underarms and unwashed body filled his nose. The cheap perfume that a shop keeper had doused him with only accented rather than hid the foul smell. He sighed, tried to worm his body closer to the refuge and closed his eyes. He let his mind wander backwards, backwards to a happier time.

“Say pardner.”

Telford popped his tired eyes open as a soft, warm female voice penetrated the thick haze building up in his mind. He did a rude but unintended double take as the speaker became clear. For a moment Ryan thought he was dreaming about being in the middle of a Snow White movie. He turned his head away before the little woman standing at his right would notice the smirk.