if one were to follow these signs , one would come upon cul-de-sac graveyards , aged skeletons , whole or in pieces , hanging out the windows of automobiles , jammed partway into the gutters so that the rainwater has no place to drain , some even arrested in pathetic gestures of escape , clawing with wasted fingerbones at the barred doors of empty shops where their lower halves had been consumed while their hands had locked in moribund spasm around the door handles .