City Lights

      The boy in the hat got up from his desk and wandered over to the cupboard.

      “Where are the Cheez-Its?”

      “What Cheez-Its?” said his roommate, looking up from his work.

      “This sucks.”

      “It’s only eight pages, and you have your whole life to draw from. It’s not that hard.”

      “I can’t write a memoir, I haven’t had any adventures. I’ve never escaped from aliens. I’ve never found buried treasure. I’ve never been in a war. What am I supposed to write about?” he said, flinging his arms in the air. “Let’s go get some food. I think better on a full stomach.”

      The roommate looked up from his work and hunched his shoulders. He unplugged his laptop, and stored it in a case sitting next to him, making sure that the zipper didn’t scratch the surface. He put the bag over his shoulder and followed the boy in the hat out their room, down the stairs, and onto the late-summer street.

      Cars careened on the asphalt, making a blaze of headlights in the night: red, white, yellow, sometimes blue. The boy in the hat walked against the light, leaving his roommate to run and catch up to him. They ran into a subway station, and squeezed into a car.

      “Crowded for a Sunday night, isn’t it?” shouted the roommate over the screech of the rails. He moved towards the boy in the hat and yelled, “Where are we going?”

      “You’ll see. I have something special for you.”

      The boys got off the train. They walked on streets with no cars, and that were only dimly lit by streetlamps. Once again, the roommate followed.

      “We have work to do, you know.”

      “It’ll be worth it.”

      The boy took off his hat and opened the door to a nameless restaurant. He was promptly greeted by a blast of cool air, and an old man in a suit.

      “Alex, my friend,” said the man. “It’s good to see you again.”

      “You too. This is my roommate, Joey.”

      They continued into the restaurant, past the couples holding hands.

      “Consider this food for thought,” Alex said as they were seated.

      He used the decorative candle to light toothpicks on fire, then shook them out as they started to burn his fingers. Joey pulled out his laptop and started working

      “Put that away,” Alex said. “We’ll be back by nine. You’ll have plenty of time to do it.”

      Joey typed a few more seconds, then looked up and put it away without saying a word.

      “What’s yours about,” said Joey.

      “I was kind of hoping I’d get some inspiration by going out. How do they expect us to write when all we see is a computer screen?”

      “So you haven’t started?”

      “No.”

      The food came in huge portions, mounds of pasta, slabs of meat. The boys wolfed it down wordlessly. They stopped only to drink water. The plates were cleared and Joey returned to his laptop.

      Suddenly, the lights went out. The flicker of the candles, and Joey’s computer screen lit the room with an eerie glow. There was silence for a second, then the restaurant burst into noise again.

      “Power outage, I guess,” said Alex, unconscious of what this meant for him and his friend. 

      Unable to catch a waiter’s attention, the boys left money on the table and walked out the door.

      “Lets just get home,” said Joey, as they walked down the now completely dark street. Car horns were blaring in the distance creating an urban cacophony. Alex laughed.

      “What?”

      “I just realized we’re not going home yet,” he said, taking off his hat and running his fingers through his hair.

      “We have to.”

      “You can try all you like, but the subways need electricity.” He laughed.

      They walked further, towards the sounds of the horns, and the headlights. The cars lit the city from within. Their light shone from under the city, throwing a glow on the buildings. But the light didn’t reach the tallest buildings, and those were black against the moonlit sky.

      “You can really see the stars tonight,” said Alex.

      “Shut up.”

      They arrived at the lights, the cars standing still. The men in the cars threw their hands in the air and leaned on their horns. The women rested their heads in their hands and stared straight forward. The taxi drivers put their hands behind their heads and glanced around, taking in the city.

       “Have any idea how long this will take?” Alex asked a taxi driver with an open window.

      “Could be all night, man. Where you going?”

      “14^th.”

      The driver gave a sigh and shook his head, a smirk on his face. “You’ve got a long walk,” he said, and rolled up his window.

      “So what do we do?” asked Joey.

      “We walk.”

      They did, along the line of cars towards their destination. Joey put his laptop on his other shoulder. Alex readjusted his hat. They walked past the men yelling to themselves and honking their horns.

      “Come this way,” Alex said turning down a side street. “It’ll be faster.”

      “You sure?”

      “Come on. I’ve lived in this city my whole life.”

      They walked for about a block before Alex stopped in front of cement building.

      “Hey Mark!” he called up. “Mark, let us up, the damn intercom isn’t working.” A man appeared on the balcony, and leaned over, looking at the dark figures a couple floors below him.

      “Alex?”

      “Yeah.”

      “I’ll be right down.”

      “Who’s that?” Joey whispered.

      “Mark.”

      “Yeah but who is he?”

      “A friend. Don’t worry about it. You’ll be happy we came here.”

      The front door opened, and Mark, dressed in sweats, held it for the boys.

      “This is Joey,” Alex said. Mark gave a nod.

      They walked up the stairs in single file, holding on to the railing in the darkness. The door to Mark’s apartment was ajar and a little light spilled from it into the hallway. The three walked in and Joey shut the door behind them. There were candles burning on a coffee table in the middle of the room.

      “Sit down.” He motioned towards the couch. The boys sat.

      “Juice, water, vodka?” Mark asked, grabbing a candle and moving into the kitchen.

      “Water, yeah.”

      Mark returned with two glasses. He sat across from the boys, his eyes shone from the candles.

      “I like outages,” he said.

      “Yeah, I do too. Problem is, we need to get back so we can finish this assignment. I took out Joey here, and promised I’d get him back it time.”

      “So you want a ride.”

      Alex nodded.

      “Traffic’s crazy,” Mark said. “ We’ll leave in a minute.” He got up from his chair with a grunt, grabbed a candle and walked to the bathroom. He peed, without closing the door.

      “See?” Alex said. “We’ll be back in no time.”

      Mark shook, three times. He grabbed his keys, blew out the candles and pushed the boys out the door.

      His car was a two-door.

      “You want shotgun?” asked Alex.

      “Sure.”

      Alex jumped into the back, and put his feet across the seat.

      “Music preference?” Mark started the car.

      Joey shook his head, but Alex popped his head between the front seats.

      “What do you have?”

      Mark pointed to a box of tapes and they screeched down the street, windows down, hands hanging out, and music blasting. Mark avoided the traffic, taking side streets, and making illegal left turns. They came to a red light and Mark pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He took one for himself and offered to the boys. Joey paused a second, and then grabbed one and shoved it between his lips. He took the lighter and tried to light it, but didn’t get a flame.

      “Hey,” Alex said. “Look who it is.” He pointed out the window.

      “Who?” asked Joey, between imaginary cigarette puffs.

      “That girl from our floor. And a couple friends.”

      Mark glanced over, slowed down the car, and turned down the music.

      “They’re good looking,” he conceded.

      “Hey!” Alex called. “Hey!”

      She turned, and looked for the voice, finally locating Alex leaning out the window and waving. Mark stopped the car.

      “You girls need a ride somewhere?” Alex said, trying to play it cool.

      One girl leaned into Joey’s window, pulled out a lighter and lit his cigarette. She took it out of his mouth, took a drag, and gave it back to him.

      “Where are you going?” Joey said blowing smoke out of his mouth. He gave a little cough.

      “Downtown,” said the girl with the lighter.

      “Hop in,” Mark replied promptly.

      The girls got into the back, with Alex. He put his arms around the ones on either side of him. Joey glanced back, and Alex flashed him a big grin. Joey smiled back.

      The car swung sharply around a corner, and everyone in the back seat was thrown to one side. The girls all giggled. Mark jammed on the brakes, stopped the car and got out. Everyone looked around.

      “Where’s he going?” Joey said, turning around.

      “He’s a strange man,” Alex replied. “You never quite know what he’s up to. He might be booking a ticket to Sub-Saharan Africa, or taking a shit, or visiting a friend, or traveling to a magical kingdom where you never get older and there are fairies and pirates and alligators with clocks in them.”

      Joey blew smoke into Alex’s face.

      “Where are you guys headed?” asked one of the girls.

      Alex shrugged, but Joey gave him a menacing look.

      “Back to school. We have a paper due tomorrow,” Joey said.

      “That sucks,” said another girl. “You could come to the party we’re going to. It’s kind of an impromptu power-outage party.”

      “Hell,” Joey said. “Let’s go.”

      Joey turned back around flicked his cigarette out the window. He sat back in his seat and watched the moon gliding higher into the sky. Mark appeared at his window.

      “I got some essentials,” he said. “40’s all around.” He dropped a giant paper bag into Joey’s lap, and started the car. He took off again into the night. Joey passed the bag to the back seat.

      Scores of people packed the tiny apartment. Candles sat on tables, wax dripping down their sides. Mark flopped down on a beanbag chair. The boys stuck together. They were handed drinks and they wandered from room to room looking for a familiar face.

“Everyone, everyone.” A girl was standing on a chair. “I have an announcement. To honor this day we’re going to have a meditation circle, so if everyone could sit down, that would be wonderful.”

      The crowd complied and a hush fell over the apartment. Everyone closed their eyes. Alex opened his and tapped Joey on the shoulder

      “This sucks,” he mouthed to him.

      Joey checked his watch and signaled to Alex, “Let’s go.”

      They rose slowly and stepped over the bodies on the ground. Alex made for the door, but Joey stayed and blew out all the candles. Then, he joined Alex and they ran whooping down the stairs, Alex waving his hat, Joey clutching his laptop to his chest. They burst onto the street and down it, running. They laughed together as they slowed to a walk and caught their breath.

      “You can really see the stars tonight,” Joey said as they both looked up at the sky.

      “Shut up.”