"Spirits of the Dead"

Living room nook Apartment #103 S. Coit Street, Florence, SC

Mr. Moses lived upstairs in Apartment #205 opposite my living room nook window facing south in Apartment #103. He drove a slick grey VW bug convertible with a black canvas top. An Army vet he was unable to walk and used a wheelchair, but still drove.  I believe driving was his greatest joy.

Every time I ran into Mr. Moses in the lobby he would grin and tell me that he spotted me walking or had seen me on my bicycle downtown, and I would grin back because I had seen him too in his car on many occasions speeding by.

Just yesterday I ran into to the white woman who lived with him.  She is as thin as Mr. Moses with long salt and pepper hair she usually wears loose past her shoulders, and she squints a lot when she speaks in a soft voice.  But yesterday with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, she was not squinting and shook with silent horror in her wide eyes.

She wanted to know had I seen the maintenance man.  I told her I had not. Both of their toilets were clogged, which had left her stressed.

In an attempt to help I sent an urgent email to management regarding their crisis after failing to reach them by phone; then printed out two copies posting one at managements door. At their door I heard voices but didn't knock. I slipped the paper quietly underneath their door, not knowing if I gone in it would have been the last time, I would have seen Mr. Moses.

At 3:00 a.m. this morning Mr. Moses passed away. I was asleep but wondered now had maintenance ever come.
​

FAREWELL, MR. MOSES
18.May.21

"The breeze, the breath of God, is still,
And the mist upon the hill
Shadowy, shadowy, yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token.
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries!
-Edgar Allan Poe, SPIRITS OF THE DEAD

Side kitchen counter, Apartment #103