It was a scrubby part of town, he noticed. The apartments were closer together in this neighborhood than in others, the architecture a little bit older. The streets were narrow and wet and the gutters were trashy. There were a few small stores here and there - a grocery, a few small clothing shops, a craft outlet. Not wanting to wait for the red light for pedestrians, Taylor made a left turn. A barber shop, a veterinarian's office. The streets here weren't nearly as crowded with cabs and cars and buses as in other places. But the sidewalks were filled with people going to and fro.
He walked to the next red light, this time deciding to wait. After the light turned green, he crossed hurriedly. He walked up the road a bit further. However, it opened up into a parking lot. Set back on the parking lot was a schoolhouse with the words "ALFRED J. HANCOCK ELEMENTARY" encrypted in concrete above the door. He glanced at his watch again. 2:17. Those kids should be getting out soon… He walked by, not caring to see the school anymore.
He walked further down the line. There were more apartments, more shops, and another school. It was a junior high. He continued to walk along. The farther he walked the sparser the apartment houses became. The less frequent were the small shops and stores and more frequent were empty lots. He walked passed one more apartment house. There was another crossing, but beyond the crossing the apartments disappeared. There was an overpass and busy roads beyond.
He looked at his watch. 2:44. Would he have time to make it back? Probably not. Oh, well. He turned and made his way back up the road. As he passed the junior high school again, he heard a faint bell ring and after a minute or so, kids began to pour out of the building. He shrank into his jacket and hurried along. As he came to the elementary school, he noted the schoolbuses pulling out of the parking lot, the kids who had begun to walk home. There were even some parents there, walking home their smaller children and talking about the day's occurrences. He tried to close his eyes so that he wouldn't see them, but it was no use.
Out of nowhere a little kid came streaking out of the parking lot and right into him. He fell back on his bottom. A moment later, a woman with dark hair and eyes came running after him. "CASEY!!" She saw him sitting on the ground, on the verge of tears, picked him up and dusted him off. "Casey, don't you ever do that again, do you understand me?"
The boy pouted and nodded his head 'yes'. Taylor looked from the little boy with white-blond hair to the dark-haired woman who was knelt down beside him looking him over for cuts and bruises. "Teresa?"
The woman looked up at him, and her face drained of color. "Taylor?"