Army of Alleycats

[Verse One]

There’s an army of alley cats
In intersected alleyways
Patrolling the pavement
As if it’s theirs to own
Looking out the windows of the buildings
Trying to catch any trespasser

[Verse Two]

John smokes the night in his hand
Helen keeps everyone on edge
Gerald patrols the alleys
Darren has the alleys on surveillance
Sandra is dealing under the doors
And Allison is finding buyers

[Verse Three]

Jordan stays awake from the fighting
Of the firefights going on all night
He can’t focus on anything
Stuck in his apartment filled with fear
Everyday living in dread
Not knowing if he’ll make it to his door

[Verse Four]

And they know him by name
Or by the “Backpack Kid”
Helen calls out to him
Saying, “How’s it goin’, sonny?”
And he turns to see her from the window
“Well, ma’am, I’m-… I’m doing okay”

[Verse Five]

He gets to his door and unlocks it
And he quickly crawls in
Then he locks the doors again
And he heads to his living room
And plops on the couch
Hiding underneath a blanket

[Verse Six]

“Why do I have to be here?”
He asks himself again
As he watches the clock hand move
And the light outside diminishes
Signaling the time to rest
But he know he won’t be able to

[Verse Seven]

He can hear gunfire from Arnold’s apartment
And the crying of a baby
From a higher floor down the alleys
And people screaming through the bricked hallways
If he could turn off all the noise
He would finally be able to sleep soundly

[Verse Eight]

But another sleepless night comes to pass
And he curses the crime-induced insomnia
Of the alley war he’s forced to live in the middle of
And he stuck praying that his father can afford
A better place for them to live
But nothing ever comes

[Verse Nine]

On the days he feels brave
He visits Helen’s apartment
Sits on her velvet couch
And hear her talk about how
Some man broke into Arnold’s apartment
And fired up the place

[Verse Ten]

Jordan asks how he can stay safe
And Helen clears her throat and speaks
“You’re living in the middle of a war, sonny
There’s armies of rapscallions in every alley
All of them wanting control
I don’t exactly know how you can stay safe.”

[Verse Eleven]

“We know one thing, however
It’s a good thing that you’re known, kiddo
Because if you weren’t
And you wandering through these parts
Somebody would have shot you down by now
Thinking you were coming for them.”

[Verse Twelve]

And Jordan shakes in his seat
As the time passes
He notices the changing of brightness
So, he hugs Helen goodbye
And heads out of her apartment
And runs back home

[Verse Thirteen]

A few days pass from that conversation
In a bout of insomnia, he sees on the news
That a bad storm is going to hit soon
And it’s on a school day
So, in a panic to not be trapped in the storm
He heads out early to catch the bus

[Verse Fourteen]

It’s still almost pitch black outside
There’s just barely enough light to see details of what’s around
And Helen hears the pitter patter of somebody’s feet
And in an over-encompassing need to protect her apartment
She arms herself and fires
At the figure she sees passing her window

[Verse Fifteen]

Then she hears a familiar cry
And her heart sinks through the floor
She sprints outside of her apartment
And finds Jordan on the ground, crying in pain
She holds onto him, repeatedly apologizing
And screams for someone to help them

[Verse Sixteen]

Gerald and Allison come running around the corner
And despite the fact that they despise each other
The moment they see Jordan bleeding from his side
They jump in to help Helen and Jordan
They help Helen carry Jordan somewhere safe
As they try to calm him down

[Verse Seventeen]

Allison calls for paramedics
As Helen tries hard to not lose her composure
She needs to stay strong for Jordan
And Gerald keeps trying to keep Jordan calm
As the four wait for paramedics to arrive
And they listen for sirens off in the distance

[Verse Eighteen]

And finally, an ambulance pulls up
Helen and Gerald help the paramedics
To carry Jordan into the ambulance
Allison says nothing to the paramedics of what had happened
She just splits the scene as the ambulance leaves
As Helen, Gerald, and Jordan are taken to the E.R

[Verse Nineteen]

All Helen can say to Jordan is
“Stay calm, sonny. Stay calm
You’ll make it out of this, I promise
You’re strong. You’re strong, I know
Stay with me
Everything is going to be alright.”