Faceless-Alias |  Free-Flow Friday  |  The View from My Window

This wasn’t her. Walking through the park looking at the faceless souls, aliases lost in the chaos of life. “Hi, how are you doing today?” The greeting was done in an effort to feel again. “Fine,” the stranger solemnly said. The stranger’s face never looked up. The response seemed to be contrived from the deep feelings of the stranger who would rather keep them to herself. She could relate. Sometimes you needed to say something to make sure you were alive and breathing. But exposing the alias was not an option. Facelessness was in control today.

“Where is she?” Allia thought to herself, almost speaking aloud. Although it would not have been strange since most in the park did the same. She had not seen Christine for quite a while. She looked around the group in the park. Allia did not even see Dane, Christine’s significant other. The faces were familiar but the faces she had become familiar with showed the aliases covering the details of these circumstances. Or, did the circumstances bring the aliases?

Allia knew there were a few in the park here by choice. They had given up on trying to make sense of the events they had been thrown in life. Kinda like the baseball game when the last ball is thrown. Bottom of the ninth, two outs, two strikes and three balls and a runner on third. The score is 3-2. The crowd is silent but excited with grand expectation awaiting the move from the pitcher and the batter. The batter is focused on hitting the ball out of the park so his team can win the game. The runner on third anticipating the base hit or home run that would bring him home. The pitcher winds up to throw the ball. Here it comes. Fast and swift. Right over the plate and the swing is a second too late. Strike three, you’re out!

The batter is visibly upset. Throws the bat. Half the crowd cheers, half the crowd oohs and aahs. Feeling the disappointment of the batter and the runner on third, the crowd has intensified the moment. Coming back from the nostalgia of enjoying her favorite sport, she scans the park one more time in order to make sure she didn’t miss Christine. Allia never thought she would truly understand the plight of the homeless, the faceless-aliases of people who were either thrown into or chose to be in this situation of living on the street. Sleeping where they could. Eating where and when they could. Every once in a while the good Samaritan would show up making a big difference for that day, but only that day. The next day, the apparent facelessness would continue. Today she understood this plight.

Allia was one of the faceless-aliases in the park today. Her search for Christina was futile at this point. She didn’t imagine any dire circumstances. She would just return tomorrow to see if her search would be fruitful. She only wanted to enjoy a moment with someone who could understand. Someone who would be able to see her, and not the alias of circumstances now out of her control? Allia’s alias moved forward through the park being one of the faceless in the group today.