Inspired by Prompt: OLWG#418- Just below Alamo Bay

There is a dock at Alamo Bay whose pilings are covered with barnacles and green slime, is splashed and bathed in the fetid waters of non-stop and the air at the Pier

 smells like one of the garbage trains that passes through town twice a day.

But the Dock at Alama Bay, whose official name in Pier 64

isn’t famous for it’s smell, or the train that  jumped the tracks in 1910 and ended up in the Bay.

I know this story because I haunt that dock- I like to go  up to take my lunch there every Wednesday and Friday, rain or shine  the Pier is my home away from home.

First of all,  let’s talk about the train at the bottom of the Bay. The train stopped being a train and became a tomb at 6:43 am on November 5th, 1910  when it sank to the bottom of the Bay.

In life it had been a circus train and all of the animals were trapped in their cages – tigers, lions and an Elephant named Flora- the engineer,  the circus performers and the world famous Magician The Amazing Benadanti ( who was an Escape Artist of all things )were trapped in their cars and they  are all still  down there, at least that is what people say because none of the animals or the people ever floated up and washed ashore which is what happens when such a tragedy strikes.

But years and years after- and to this very day  ( which is May 5, 2025 ) someone standing on the dock will look down into the water because they will hear a thump, sometimes a knock  sometimes they look down because they feel like they need too and they always see

Shoes.

Sometimes it’s one shoe, sometimes there are a half dozen matching shoes and sometimes they don’t match, but what you can see right away is that the shoes aren’t old.

They aren’t covered with slime or seaweed. The shoes are always newish looking.

But what they all have in common is one thing.

There are feet in those shoes.

I will tell you a secret about something else that is there, just below the cold, fetid water of Alamo Bay- sometimes you can hear a growl, sometimes you can hear metal grinding against metal and when you do it’s probably best to step back from the railing and  I’d advise you watch your feet as you do.