Stealing down an ally on a cold dark night
I see a halo in the rain around the street light
I stop and look, and listen to the sound
As the raindrops penetrate the silence all around
Alone, I gaze into the glistening street
The distant thunder echoing my heartbeat
Urging me on to a secret goal
Away from the light from this lamp on a pole
So I turn, slip away into the rain
Drifting like a spirit through the shadows in the lane
Clutching the tools of my trade in my hand
An old box of matches and a gasoline can
Darkness envelopes the scene like a shroud
A veil of emptiness hangs from the clouds
Filling up the cracks in this desolate place
Cradled by the night in an icy embrace
Moving to the town like a ghost in the rain
A dim reflection in a dark window pane
Blackness beckons from every side
Creeping all around like an incoming tide
A broken window in an empty house
I slip inside and begin to douse
The whole place with the fuel that will feed the fire
And push back the night, taking me higher
On out of the darkness in a defeaning roar
The match in my hand is the key to the door
A simple turn of the wrist will suffice
To open a passage to paradise
I pause, I think about the past and the gloom
The smell of gasoline permeates the room
Everyone has a little secret he keeps
I light the fires while the city sleeps
(Like the 4th of July)
The match makes a graceful arc to the floor
And time stands still as I turn for the door
Which explodes in a fireball and throws me to the street
I hit the ground running with the flames at my feet
Reaching for the night which recoils from the fire
The raindrops hiss like a devilish choir
Dying in the flames with a terrible sound
Calling all the names of the sleepers all around
But then in the arms of the night, they lay
Their dreams sprout wings and fly away
Out of the houses in a gathering flock
Swarming overhead as I hurry down the block
I make my escape with the greatest of ease
And savor the darkness, drop to my knees
And the lightless window, my hand on the latch
I reach in my pocket, and pull out a match
(Like the 4th of July)
— MC 900 Ft. Jesus, “The City Sleeps”
So, the big news of the moment is that we appear to have an arsonist running around North Seattle. It’s really freaky to think about — thirteen fires in the North Seattle area over the past three days, the majority of which have been definitely determined to be arson, and now there’s a reward of up to $30,000 for information leading to an arrest.
Local weblogger Danelope had a night of listening to sirens, and included links to Seattle Police scanners streaming audio (which, unfortunately, wasn’t working for me when I just tried to listen in) and a resource that I keep forgetting about, the live 911 incident list for Seattle. A little unnerving to go down the list, though, as right now there is an active “Fire in Building” listing at North 61st and Phinney with multiple units responding. While it’s a little tough to be sure, it looks like it’s at least possible that the local fire departments might have another busy night ahead of them.
It’s also a little concerning because Prairie’s sister Hope just moved into a new apartment in the North Seattle area. While so far the arsonist seems to be avoiding populated buildings, and there haven’t been any injuries, there’s always the possibility that a fire might spread to other areas. We’ll just keep our fingers crossed and hope that North Seattle’s big enough that any new fires don’t hit Hope’s area — or if they do, that everyone’s alert enough that nothing happens.
Freaky stuff.
Almost amusingly, though, it’s almost starting to seem that my time living in Seattle is going to be punctuated by fires of one sort or another. The summer I moved down here was one of the driest in Washington in a long time, actually putting the state into official drought status, and there were fires all across the state for much of the summer. When I went with some friends to see the Barenaked Ladies perform at the Gorge in central Washington, much of the weekend was scented with woodsmoke, as we were often no more than a few miles away from one of the fires.
After getting everything set up at the campsite, we packed ourselves into two cars, and headed down a quicker route back to the Gorge for the show. The way there was fascinating — currently, huge amounts of the state of Washington are on fire, and there were amazing clouds of smoke from the fires just 40 miles away or so in the sky. The smoke turned an otherwise clear night to a completely opaque murk. Just fascinating to see — and the smell of burning pine in the air was an added reminder that all this stuff wasn’t that far away.
While I can’t come up with any notable fires over the past two summers, earlier this year the Jensonia Hotel, next door to my apartment building, went up in flames three times over the course of a couple months (two of which I got pictures of, in January and in March), eventually being damaged enough that it has been permanently closed down. I still haven’t heard any word on whether or not those fires were ever determined to be arson or accidental, though.
And now we’ve got this going on right here in town. I’m quite curious is the responsible party is going to be sticking to North Seattle, or if things are going to spread. You can be sure I’ll be keeping my eyes and ears open.
Of course, all this did give me an excuse to post the lyrics to MC 900 Foot Jesus‘ “The City Sleeps“, written from the point of view of an arsonist on the prowl. This, of course, prompted Prairie to comment, “You WOULD have just the right creepy song in your collection!” :)
Benefits to being a music whore, I guess. ;)
