Layla arrived at the abandoned BAYLORD SHOPPING CENTER in Hermosa Beach at dusk. It had been closed so long that some said it was haunted and would never bustle with life again. It’s security lights still came on at night. A warm halo of light rose from the open-air courtyard. There would be plenty of yummy moths and none of your crowds and commotions of the piers. Surely her new friend, the white-throated needle-tailed swift, formally known as: “hirundapus caudacutus,” and casually known as “the storm bird”, would opt for the Baylord bug banquet.
A cluster of
giant slippery elms surrounded a sprawling camphor tree and blocked the view of
the back entrance to the mall. Layla looked both ways for the security car that
occasionally drove by and then climbed up the camphor tree until she was able
to reach the rusty fire escape stairs. Once upon the roof she found a
comfortable spot with a good view of the open-air atrium.
A mature Japanese wisteria longissimi alba vine snaked around the
entire courtyard like
a great white dragon. It was December 21st and yet thousands of two-foot
long racemes still held their snow-white petals that normally fell off in May. Layla
spied a happy swarm of moths circling a lamp post by a beautiful potted bamboo.
Layla waited for her storm bird and drifted off into a deep sleep.
~ To Be Continued ~
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