03.21.23

we were sitting outside of the main strip on the lawn that was bordered by the concrete slabs that distinguished sidewalk from lawn, and it was just above or maybe just below comfortable sitting height for a man of normal stature. the slabs were rough and stacked on top of each other in a staggered pattern. we were sitting on the side of the street with the shop that sold crystals at certain hours, and on the other side there was a protestant church that would put up pride flags on certain days. once i saw someone get married in there. i dont know who was married but i remembered the woman that played the cello behind a veil, and you could only make out her silhouette behind the veil and the strokes of her bow. i was in between j and s. none of us were drunk but one or two could have been tipsy at most, or maybe high. it was nighttime and all you could hear was the din of the bars by the gates. it was us three sitting on the slabs listening to the bars, and the only thing lit up in the whole town was the bars, because nothing else lit up after night really, not in that town.

we were a real peanut gallery sitting on the slabs and nobody that walked past had any recourse. i dont know what we were talking about but none of us had even made it to two decades yet. s was usually quiet but something posessed him that night. and when these two guys walked past us the little guy said nice hat to s, s was wearing a hat with built in goggles that flipped down from the brim. it was pretty funny and he knew it. the guys walked for another 10 paces and everything was quiet, and for a moment all we did was sit in the silence and watch them, until s said "thanks, you fucking asshole"

they were a pair of a little asian guy and a big white guy, and the little asian guy came back to intimidate us teenagers and tell us that his dad worked on wall street and in fact wore a similar hat. j was insistent that we should call the cops