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I try to find solace in the fact that I’m a man on a mission. Top secret business. Big, big things.
“Change?” The lady walked right past me, turned her head; that kind of thing used to hurt my feelings long ago, but I’d been living on these streets for the better part of a decade.
Stuff your feelings in one sock, slip them down around your left ankle, they fit as snug as an ankle monitor, and believe me, I know about such things.
I’d been trying to get myself a meal for about a century. Well, more like two days, but forty-eight hours ain’t nothing to fuck with.
I have a problem with volume sometimes.
A little food might’ve helped me think clearer. For instance, UY Scuti is the largest star in the universe. A red supergiant, 1,700 times wider than the sun. It’s 5,219 light-years from here. Sorry. Wait. What? Where was I? Oh yes, in midtown Manhattan, fucking famished.
“You have work to do.” I heard them, but the phrase was muffled. So I untied the top of my garbage bag. “Who said that?” I asked. “You have work to do.” [Coke bottle; made of glass, all elegant design, and speaking more clearly this time]
Scientists estimate the temperature of UY Scuti is 3,365 Kelvin, but they’ve underestimated that number. Its actual temperature is closer to 3,500 Kelvin.
Meanwhile, commuters boarded one stop after the next. If they got on close to me, they skedaddled to the other end of the train. It wasn’t the sight of me, but the smell. Maybe a bit of both.
“You’re going to miss your stop.” [Dr Pepper; maroon from top to bottom; a lady who could be spicy and sweet simultaneously]
Guy R. Brewer Boulevard is named for Guy R. Brewer, obviously. One of the first Black folks elected to political office in Queens.
Served in the New York State Assembly for nearly a decade. His wife, Marie Brown Brewer, was the first Black woman to be elected district leader in Queens.
Anyway, I’m acting like I knew all this shit, but it’s not true. Mello Yello told me about it as I marched along.
On the walls were frames and frames of God people, I mean good people;
Coke bottle, Dr Pepper, Mello Yello, Cherry Coke. My pantheon. I went down on one knee before them.
The office had a second door, which led out to a dressing room where the preacher’s robes were kept. I found an old rag, dark with shoe polish.
Mmm…
I pulled the butane lighter from my coat pocket just like King Arthur pulled that sword. Destiny. That’s how all this felt.
I reached the edge of the table and then I heard the voice that changed my life. “I will beat your ass if you touch my shit.” That’s how I met Kim.
Fast family, that’s what these streets can create. Love and survival; the former helps with the latter. But the latter isn’t ever guaranteed.
“You know Allah and Jesus might not like a girl like me.” “You mean because you’re a man.” I’d never heard New York City get so quiet.
“I am a woman. My name is Kim. If you hurt me right now, you will never see me again.”
“Wait a second. Tell me the truth. Have I lost my mind?” [Kim; looking ready to crumble] “Oh, you shouldn’t ask me,” I said, as I stepped out. “I lost mine a long time ago.”
