There Is No 29th Street | Teen Ink

There Is No 29th Street

October 12, 2010
By JourneyWriter PLATINUM, Joliet, Illinois
JourneyWriter PLATINUM, Joliet, Illinois
21 articles 0 photos 58 comments

Favorite Quote:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

-Robert Frost


Lisandra walked briskly down the sidewalk. She was headed for the antique bookstore she had spotted a week ago. Well, more than spotted. She had gone inside out of curiosity and had spent half the afternoon there, reading old, dusty, fascinating books and chatting with the friendly and elderly desk clerk. There had been one book that had grabbed her attention and had glued her to its pages longer than any other there. She had been planning on coming back to buy it and this was that day.
At the thought of owning such a strange and fascinating book, Lisandra walked as fast as her 50’s style heels and skirt would allow her to. At last she reached the street corner at which, a week before, she had seen the sign pointing toward the little shop’s entrance way. The sign was gone. No matter, she knew the way well enough without it. She continued to walk looking for the door to the bookstore. She walked almost twenty yards when she stopped, turned around, and started back, clearly not understanding something.
This was where the shop was supposed to be. But where was the shop? She was most clearly lost. But this was Twenty-Ninth Street, was it not? Lisandra wandered about staring at street signs and at the solid brick wall on the street corner where the little antique book store was supposed to be. She spent so much time on that one street corner that a police officer, across the busy street had noticed something strange about the girl and walked over to where she was.
“Excuse me, miss,” he began, taking off his cap and running his fingers through his dark, coarse hair. “Are you looking for something?”
Lisandra turned, and surprised, answered his question. “I dare say I am. Where is the little antique book shop that stood here only last week?”
“Miss?” the police officer looked about himself unsure of what to tell the young lady. “Miss, there is no little antique book shop around these parts, at least not that I know of.”
The girl looked troubled by his answer. Her green eyes continued to search the brick wall. “That cannot be so, I was here, on this exact sidewalk looking into an antique book shop only last week!” her eyes stopped searching the wall and she stared at the police officer. “Sir, is this not Twenty-ninth Street?”
Now it was the police officer’s turn to look troubled. He answered, searching her face for the reasons behind this strange behavior.
“No, miss. There is no Twenty-Ninth Street- not in here in Chicago, at least.”
Lisandra puzzled over this for some time. Then she must be lost.
“Miss, would you like me to call a taxi cab to take you home?” there was no answer to the officer’s question. “Miss?”
Lisandra came out of her daze. “Oh, yes?”
“Would you like me to call a taxi cab to take you home?”
“Yes. Yes, that would do very well. I need to go home. I do believe I’m very much lost or out of my mind. A taxi, yes. That will do. I probably only need some rest. I’ve been working so hard these days with the modeling and all. I think I could use a rest. A rest! Oh, I’ll go to the very place-”


The author's comments:
this is sort of like the twilight zone, so it really doesn't have to make sense. I enjoyed writing this piece even with its quirks.... :)

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This article has 5 comments.


on Oct. 23 2010 at 9:05 pm
JourneyWriter PLATINUM, Joliet, Illinois
21 articles 0 photos 58 comments

Favorite Quote:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

-Robert Frost

well, it's a confusing story. it's not nessesarly  supposed to make sense.

on Oct. 21 2010 at 4:02 pm
pinkypromise23 PLATINUM, Cranston, Rhode Island
30 articles 0 photos 412 comments

Favorite Quote:
i know that you believe you understand what you think i said, but im not sure you realize that what you heard is not what i meant.

woah, this was awesome! purely awesome!!

cboo17 said...
on Oct. 16 2010 at 7:37 am
I was confused.

on Oct. 16 2010 at 12:53 am
JRsingersongwriter GOLD, HB, California
11 articles 0 photos 33 comments

Favorite Quote:
"It's one thing to put yourself in someone's shoes. It's another to walk around in them." -Me!

this reminds me of "The Third Level" by Jack Finney, you should read it

on Oct. 15 2010 at 4:59 pm
deus-ex-machina14 BRONZE, Stewartsville, New Jersey
1 article 0 photos 439 comments

Favorite Quote:
"There are two main tragedies in life. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." -Oscar Wilde

Kind of creepy, but cool! Good job!