Distant Constellations

Integrated by poverty, the Cavity is a neighborhood where convenience shopping means a bank flanked by a gun store on one side and a liquor store on the other, where the Muggers (Trojans) live with their "ole ladies" on the first floor of a tenement, the once-guilded La Chambord. The Amazons, five beautiful but large sisters who live upstairs, watch them roar out on their motorcycles every morning to conduct their "business" and challenge the Miseries (Greeks) who camp out in Eighty Acres Park. Mayhem begins when Paris installs his beautiful hostage, Helen of Troy, in the old barbershop. Outrageous events burst forth to a startled audience. Customers and butchers race from Mr. Figlio's meat market, reel out of the tavern, and stumble from the alleys. Crooks come by for pointers. Seniors hobble and roll down the hill from the Senior Citizens Housing Project to enjoy the entertainment before the police roar in and blast away. The Celestial Coffin Company opens for business. Parts of "Distant Constellations" have been previously published in "North American Review" and the "Country and Abroad."