Gertrude’s quiet. I swear I can feel her, just on the other side of the wall. Maybe I should join her in there. She has no problem being in my space, sneaking around when she knows I won’t see her. Brings a whole new meaning to the idea of someone “seeing you when you’re sleeping.” I don’t know why she has such a problem with me seeing her, but that’s her prerogative, I suppose. But she comes in here. Why shouldn’t I go in there?
Suzannah swung her feet off Nomi’s lap and went to tend to a gas camping stove. Nomi took my feet in her hands. Someone gave me a glass of cool yellow pear juice. Eva and Yoav were singing softly together, harmonising some old Hebrew song. The glass I was drinking from was curved like a chalice. There were pairs here: Eva and Yoav, Nomi and Suzannah. Gavin seemed alone but perhaps he preferred it that way. And who did Daniel belong to now?
The TV images from the moon bloomed across the screen. They looked like gray and white flowers. Iggy stayed rock hard. He didn’t budge as the very first moonwalk unfolded under his belly. He was a lonely observer, only hearing the events that happened far away from him. The launch of the Apollo rocket. The long space journey of the three astronauts. The landing of the beetle-like lunar module. I wanted to shout at Iggy and rouse his stone age blood: Don’t you know what’s happening under you? It’s everything, Iggy, everything.
I don’t remember very many specific things I said in college, but for some reason, I’ve never forgotten that phrase: We’re grown adults. Because as soon as the words had rolled off my tongue, it had occurred to me for the first time how close it really was. In just about a year, I’d be out of college and facing a future unknown.
“Well, my hobby since I was a kid has been magic, especially sleight of hand. Whenever the collection plate came around, I dropped in a dollar and palmed a ten or twenty.” Whoa! Smiley Mike’s reflection is looking pretty stern. You’re in scoring position, Ken. “Nobody ever noticed. I bought some sweet weed with all that cash.”
It was August. Jordan couldn’t remember past summers ever being this hot. It was as if Nature, seeing this new, prolonged hibernation of humans, had chosen to reset the polluted air by exploding it. Jordan lifted the bottom of his shirt and wiped sweat off his forehead. They couldn’t afford an air conditioner for the living room, his mom had said, until the next unemployment check. Summer would be over by then…
