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I tell Ellen to close her eyes.
I don't take the most direct of routes. Part of it, of course, is to shake anyone who might be following us. Our escape wasn't a subtle one by any means, and while the rooftops offer some advantage, we're still getting out of this by the skin of our teeth.
But I'd be lying if I said part of it wasn't just because I missed this. When my hearing finally clears up, it's like all the cotton's been pulled out of my ears. I'm back in surround sound. Above the pounding of my own heart, the blood rushing through my veins, the air moving heavy through my lungs, the sirens still in the distance, I can hear the city. Snippets of a million conversations. Noisy television sets. Radios blaring. Broadway shows and concerts. I hear an old man with a whooping cough on the other end of downtown and a dog taking a leak at the corner of the street. It's a beautiful cacophony, overwhelming in its complexity, and I missed it.
I swing around my block three times before I decide it's safe to make an approach. I bring us to the roof of my brownstone, an old entrance that only I know about. I set Ellen down, keeping an arm around her to steady her while I open the door.
"That wasn't so bad, right?"
I don't take the most direct of routes. Part of it, of course, is to shake anyone who might be following us. Our escape wasn't a subtle one by any means, and while the rooftops offer some advantage, we're still getting out of this by the skin of our teeth.
But I'd be lying if I said part of it wasn't just because I missed this. When my hearing finally clears up, it's like all the cotton's been pulled out of my ears. I'm back in surround sound. Above the pounding of my own heart, the blood rushing through my veins, the air moving heavy through my lungs, the sirens still in the distance, I can hear the city. Snippets of a million conversations. Noisy television sets. Radios blaring. Broadway shows and concerts. I hear an old man with a whooping cough on the other end of downtown and a dog taking a leak at the corner of the street. It's a beautiful cacophony, overwhelming in its complexity, and I missed it.
I swing around my block three times before I decide it's safe to make an approach. I bring us to the roof of my brownstone, an old entrance that only I know about. I set Ellen down, keeping an arm around her to steady her while I open the door.
"That wasn't so bad, right?"