Through the Slats

Slipping out through the loose ventilation louvers took steady leverage against the sheet metal. The noon light was sharp on the stone outside. Staying low against the brick base of the building, I crept beneath the edge of an iron pedestrian grate set flush into the sidewalk. Just beneath the iron bars, caught on a cross-rib, lay a discarded metal roller skate wheel with its central bearing exposed. I braced my back against the cool foundation and gripped the outer rim. With slow, persistent force, my fingertips turned the outer ring until the gritty grease within gave way, spinning free with a quiet, hollow whir.