Chronic City: Part 9

Ennis waited and waited and waited.  There was no sign of Jack.  He sat on the box on the loading dock and smoked cigarette after cigarette.  All was dark.  The street was empty.  The cars and the people were gone.  Just a single passing car every once in a while, trying to find its way, and a solitary, lonely soul walking every so often in the dark.

All the light was out.  The fluorescent lights in the stockroom, the streetlights, the neon lights of the distant stores. All gone.  The moon was high. The stars, usually invisible, were twinkling in the sky.  Otherwise, all that could be seen was the blackness.  It was all over, thick and uncompromising.

But then, off in the distance, a glow began to appear.  The glow was from the flames that had begun to burst out from the streets.  It was soft and eerie. 

Ennis stared off in the distance.  “Where are you?” he whispered this time. 

Ennis held his cigarette near his watch.  One in the morning.  Hours had gone by.  He closed his eyes.  It was so hard to believe how different this night was from the night just ten days ago now, the forth of July.  This night was full of blackness, that other night was so full of light.

Jack had begged him and begged him for days.  “We gotta go see the fireworks.  Come on, we gotta go” Jack had said, over and over.  Ennis kept saying no.  But Jack was insistent.  “Why not?” he kept asking.  “Why won’t you go?”   Finally on the third of July Ennis said yes, he couldn’t remember why he had been saying no.

They met in the afternoon, and took the subway together into Manhattan.  They sat together, without speaking.  Ennis tried not to notice Jack’s arm and thigh pressing against his, but there was no room to move, the subway car had become crowded.  They got off the subway and walked the rest of the way there, to the closed off highway by the river.  It was dark when they got there, crowded with what seemed like millions of people.  There was music playing and people going around selling sodas and beers and funny hats too.  The people were all laughing and dancing near the music.  Ennis and Jack walked all around, staring at all the sights.  They looked longingly at the guys selling beer and ice cream, but they were charging way too much money.  Then Jack and Ennis found places in the crowd right by the river, the best place to see.  They waited and waited.

All of a sudden there was a loud boom.  The ground began to shake.  The fireworks had begun.  The sky lit up, even brighter than the brightest day.  There were huge stars in the sky in many colors, then they all turned white, then red and blue.  The noise was deafening.  Ennis put his hands to his ears, he had never heard such noise before.

The sky was full of the brilliant sparks of the glowing light.  Ennis never could have imagined such a sight.  He had watched the fireworks on TV with Aunt Sally before, but it couldn’t compare.  Jack was standing slightly in front of him, he turned around and smiled at him.  Jack’s eyes were shining as almost as bright as the glowing sky.  Ennis felt himself tremble inside.  He stared at Jack, then he looked back up at the glowing sky.

Jack moved back, right beside him, and whispered something into his ear.  Ennis didn’t hear what he said.

The sky became even more brilliant than anything possible in his dreams.  There were shooting stars, going up to the heavens and falling back down.  There were waterfalls and giant bursts of red, white and blue that fell slowly to the water.  There were rainbows dancing, and majestic mountains of silver that fell like droplets of heaven’s tears.  In the midst of all the light and noise, so loud it make Ennis tremble and shake, a policemen began to push everyone back away from the wooden barriers in front, guarding the river.  Jack somehow wound up behind him.  Ennis turned quickly, Jack smiled.  They were pushed back further, Ennis was pressed right against Jack.  He felt Jack’s heartbeat against his back.  He was pushed back even more.  Jack put out his arms against his sides.  Ennis remembered the strange feeling, like a flame inside him growing stronger and stronger, just like the giant flames in the sky.  He felt Jack tremble against his back.  Ennis remembered his heart pounding, almost as loud as the booms from the fireworks.  He closed his eyes.  He could see the great lights in the sky.  The strange sensation inside grew stronger and stronger.  Then suddenly it was over. The sky went dark that night.  People started moving, Ennis quickly took two steps forward, then he turned around.  Jack was staring at him, his eyes were smiling.

“That sure was somethin’” he said.

Ennis didn’t answer.  He didn’t understand it at all.  He didn’t want to understand the feeling that had risen up inside of him, deep within his soul.  Afterwards they took the subway back.  It was crowded, full of people coming back from the fireworks, speaking in loud excited voices.  They stood facing each other, their hands on the pole.  Ennis was careful to keep his hand away from Jack’s.

When they got off the subway, Jack stared at him imploringly.  Ennis stared back, then he quickly said “see you tomorrow” and left.  He didn’t want to give Jack the chance to beg him to come over.  He hurried back to his car.  All the way back, there were still kids outside shooting off firecrackers.  Ennis finally got back and went inside the car.  He pulled the blanket over him, but he never closed his eyes that night.  The fireworks were still flashing in front of him, they were still pounding in his ears that whole night.

Ennis opened his eyes.  He was back on the loading dock, in the dark.  He lit a match and looked at his watch.  Two in the morning.  In front of him was the darkness, but the glow from the flames was growing brighter and stronger.  It didn’t make any sense at all.  Jack just went down for a soda.

Ennis looked into the blackness of the stockroom.  He sat motionless.  He heard a noise, a rustling. 

Then there was a loud booming crash, of boxes falling in the darkness.

“Jack!!  Is that you?”

~~~~~~~

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8)

Disclaimer: The characters belong to Annie Proulx. There never will be a penny made from this at all. The title was inspired by REM.