She was the…

the patron saint of 23rd street

She was around for a lot of that

she …

Wandering around the hotel hallways in the middle of the night

carrying a little yellow cardboard box.

And she inhabited the place like a butterfly

There was this kind of sadness about her and a…

and she did have this light.

And nobody ever knew her real name.

There was times

I’d see her coming down that street

stepping through broken bottles and gum

and carrying her shoes, barefoot.

People said she was crazy but I don’t know.

About six months before the fire there was …

there was a big blackout.

Famous, summer blackout.

She walked around through the halls giving everyone candles.

Scared everybody away in the end.

Then when the fire happened, you know,

everybody assumed it was her.

There had been fires in the halls that year,

little ones.

I dunno if it was fair or not but everybody blamed her for it.

And then one day she…

she just vanished. And later they…

said her name was Alice.

All that time I never knew her name.