BY: SOPHIE BONOMI

 

BACK ALLEY, 56TH STREET TACOMA, WA — Often times, as of late, the world can seem like a pretty daunting and overwhelming place. Devastation, destruction, and trauma seem to surround us, and as one global catastrophe begins to dwindle, another one, in another part of the world, is erupting in full force.

 

Here locally in my hood, just today the mailman’s truck was shot up, just “for fun” it seems. Another car, parked at the grocery store down the street for less than 5-mins (presumably to buy some overpriced milk — god forbid they had to top their tank up too) left with a smashed passenger-side window and another burden weighing heavy on a troubled heart.

 

I take my tears to the streets in the form of steps on the cold concrete. Like a blast of a tidal wave through cracked flood gates, sometimes my emotions become too much.

 

In my split-second rationale, I b-lined for the steepest hill in the alleyway I could find. After all, seemed like a good place to start; as we hustled, avoiding potholes and challenging the grade with an increased heart rate, the rushing waters of my emotions evaporated as light entered heart in the form of a familiar face.

 

A bead of sweat on her brow, dirty from an afternoon of pulling sticker bushes, I saw Robyn. 

 

“Heidi, right?!” she called over over half-eaten liverwurst sandwich.

 

(They always remember the dog.)

 

“Sure thing,” I replied. “And Sophie!”

 

Sometimes friends come in the most unexpected places. I found Robyn a week or two back down one neighboring side street or another, picking up trash in the cold.

 

I felt compelled to cross the street and give her my support. Our mutual compassion began a camaraderie. I knew I’d see her again sometime. 

 

Unlike most, Robyn doesn’t pick up garbage because of community service, she doesn’t even get paid. Those sticker bushes she spent hours manicuring with her hand-tools … she doesn’t know who’s property that backs up to, but she knows they might scratch a car driving through. Robyn just wants to make a better world and says she has the energy to get out there and do it.

 

“I just got a bug in my ear about it,” she said. And then she offered a piece of liverwurst to Heidi.

 

And there in my tracks, I was gently reminded of the love from the human spirt. We continued on our walk with a softened heart, reminiscing of the angels among us.

 

Then, we found a feather. 

 

The light will always shine through the darkness.