Page 39 - Where the Dream Ends ebook

Where the Dream Ends

bly sent to Reform School. In fear, Harry retracts his sphincter
so that the urge to pee passes momentarily. Seconds go by as
the class has time to absorb the seriousness of this threat and
then a siren wails: the all clear signal, a three-minute lamen-
tation to the still-living that indicates the test is over; had it
been a real exercise, it would have been a call for all those who
survived the blast that preceded it to step outside and return to
their normal lives. The phrase “as if ” had not yet been coined.
That same morning, on the way home from school for
lunch, the stranger’s dire warning rings in Harry’s head: “Ex-
pelled! Reform School!” So many warnings for a young mind
his head reels: “Stay away from empty lots!” “Don’t play with
matches!” “Don’t sit on the car!” So many warnings he is afraid
to stray far from home, so he spends most of his time on the
block where a certain leniency is granted its young residents.
The block, or “Naples Terrace”, as it is denoted by the city
of New York, is a single street running east from Kingsbridge
Avenue in the Bronx, upward to the top of a bluff overlook-
ing Marble Hill. At the top of the hill, where there actually is
something of a terrace, a wide, steep flight of stairs goes down
to Broadway. Across the way, to the south, yet another lesser
flight of stairs sandwiched between two darkened buildings
leads to an alley onto 231 Street. At the bottom of this smaller
st
flight of steps is the shop where every Saturday morning Harry
brings the family’s dirty sheets and towels to be exchanged for
fresh, rented ones. His mother refused to do the laundry de-
spite the family’s sorrowful financial condition.

Except for Harry’s family, which was known in the neigh-
borhood for its raucous behavior, the Terrace was a quiet place
in 1949 with neat rows of hedges set close to the buildings

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