The Alley

Dennis walked down the Alley as usual.
The Alley, with its big old beech trees that had already lost all of their leaves and looked naked and bare.
Their branches were bending under the force of the cold october breeze and glistening wet with rain in the light of the moon that peered through a gap in the clouds.
Dennis took this way every night after finishing down at the supermarket where
he was working all day, every day.
'Dull and monotonous affair, this job',he thought.
Sweeping lots of packed food and drinks, toilet roles, fruit and veg over the price-
scanner that beeped like crazy, constantly, without seeming to get tired of it.
Dennis was tired though.
"Hello, have you got a Reward Card? That's ten pounds and thirty, please.--Thanks a lot, bye!"
beep,beep,beep... "Hello, have you got a ..."
Sometimes he wanted to break the chain of monotonous movements and dialogues,
that weren't dialogues at all, but mere sentences, repeated a thousand times.
"You shouldn't buy this", he was tempted so often to say to the customers.
"Processed food is really not good for you.- Too many preservatives and fat.--
Look at you! Shouldn't you go on a diet anyway? Must be all those crisps in a multi- pack.----
Oh, that's a lot of beer you just bought, isn't it? Didn't you get a six- pack just yesterday?
I can write down the number of the Anonymous Alcoholics for you, if you like.----
Oh,hi! You look as if you are called Jennifer. You've got beautiful eyes.-
I noticed that last time you came to my casch-desk. But you never smile, and you look lonely.----
Disgusting tie you are wearing there. Did you get that from your Mother-in-law who you can't stand because she's always nosey and visits you every Sunday
when you would much rather sit in the bath with your lovely wife and drink champagne?----"
But Dennis never said anything else than what he was expected to.
How boring and how empty he felt every night when he was on his way home.

Then he walked through the Alley and he started to relax.

The whole day fell from his shoulders when he entered this quiet street with its sinister air and mysterious sounds.
Cars peacefully standing in front of entrances or in the gutter.
Houses gloomy and elated in gardens that seemed wild and frightening like the big unknown of a forest in the night.
Dennis could walk in the middle of the street and just take in all the different impressions,
every house, everycar, every tree and every cat that crossed his way told a different story
about its life or the day it had had. Sounds, smells, images.
He always drew in deep breaths of the evening air which told
him what kind of day he had just missed...again!
And at this point he always decided he had to change his life.
Tommorrow he would get up early in the morning and would start to change everything that wasn't right.
He would start to talk to the customers, would tell them about the books
he read when he was on his own in his lonely little flat in George Street.
Would tell them about Goethe and Schiller, Brecht and Boell.
He would tell his boss to fire him and then he would sit on his windowsill
and watch the pigeons and write beautifull poems about the love he never had,
because he was too busy scanning in items for customers in the supermarket.

Then he would turn around the corner.
The wind was quite harsh now sweeping over his cheeks making them red.
He was shivering slightly and thought, how quickly the weather had changed
and it was seriously autumn now and he had to think about getting more wood and
coal for his fire soon.
Dennis's home was the third house on the left.
His flat was at the top right under the roof, and he liked it there.
He could see for miles when he looked out of his bedroom window.
He fiddled in his coat pocket to find the housekeys and found them eventually in his trousers.
"Another day over", he thought and turned the key in the lock.

The next morning he got up as everyday, put on his clothes as usual,
had breakfast in ten minutes and had to hurry to work because he was always late.
He arrived a little blushed, and out of breath and excused himself whilst grabbing his work-uniform.
Then he sat down at his cash-desk. Beep, beep, beep, beep...
"Hello, Have you got a Reward Card?..."

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