The Alternative School

It took a long time to find the Alternative School. The trip down Beach Boulevard was disorienting. There were no landmarks. We made the journey at dusk which added to the eerie feeling that we were in some twilight zone episode and after endless views of stairs and slabs, we came upon the upright steeple of the Episcopal Church which we knew stood in front of the school. Even then, we could not make it back to the site and had to put off our expedition till the next day.

When we finally reached the site, we could not believe what we were witnessing. A secretary's chair hung from a nearby tree, suspended by some rags or strings. We saw no books, or student records of any kind. The entire building had been dismantled like some sort of giant jigsaw puzzle that you might rattle around in the box before assembly. The tallest thing remaining was the piano shown in the foreground, laying on its back.