Company

When she stepped onto the platform, she became aware of the sudden rush of energy, of movement, of noise. She was reminded of a line from Sondheim, another hundred people just got off of the train... the hustle and bustle as a storm of footsteps attacked the many stairs that led to the exit, providing a strange percussive harmony, as though orchestrated by the fact these people had visited this very platform each day in morning and afternoon rehearsals.

She passed through streets of Chinese restaurants, whose scents tantalised her nostrils with promises of dumplings and duck pancakes. The words were foreign to her, but scent and sound were universal. Old friends briefly greeting, the whoosh of passing cars, the trickling of rain, the rustle of bags being hoisted on shoulders. These well-trodden footpaths had a language of their own.

The library was her destination. Disguised, almost hidden in the Ashfield Civic Centre, where people chatted in the foyer. When she emerged from the lift, she was greeted by something now strange to her ears – silence. The librarian cast her a weary look, with a stereotypical SHH before she could step out of the metal doors. She must already have an Ashfield look about her, ready to burst into cacophonous life. 

Published as a street installation for Ashfield Sound Bites, a 2019 project between EDGE Inner West & Spineless Wonders.

Illustration by Ciaran Frame