I was standing in the kitchen staring into a book and feeling the warm glow of the late afternoon sun coming in through the window beside me as it turned the pages to fire.
The entire apartment was too hot.
Windows were cracked open and held in place by various random household objects. A stack of cds, a decommissioned ashtray turned on its side. A weak breeze blew thru bringing with it the sound of passing cars and the intermittent bellowing of the day drinkers slurping another cheap golden lager on the bistro patio across the street.
The sun had burned away the words from the page of the book that I was reading but I was already elsewhere and had been there for a little while by the time I heard Sunset tapping tapping on the living room window.
He was kneeling on the fire escape landing outside and looking at me with an intentionally goofy expression and gesturing with his hands to come over and let him in.
I put the book face down on the kitchen counter to hold my place and went over the haul up the window so he could scramble in.
He put his hand on@my shoulder as he steadied himself and then glided over to the fridge to dig out a can of beer.
He cracked it, took a quick swig, and said, “Dude, you were in a trance there. Completely gone. I been knocking for like a minute.”
“Ha, yeah,” I said, still swimming back to reality and a little bothered that Sunset was here in my kitchen when I had other things to do.
“Must be a good one, I guess.” He said and then gestured with the beer can hand at the book on the counter. “What’s it about?”
I hated this question from Sunset because he asked it a lot but never really stuck around for an answer.
“Science fiction,” I said, then, “well, speculative fiction really. It’s about a character who is allergic to things like specific types of fashion…”
Sunset was staring at me with a blank look from under his blue mesh back trucker cap. His blonde hair sticking out like straw. He skulled his beer and went back to the fridge for another.
“Sorry, man, but that sounds super fucking boring.”
I shrugged. “What brings you to the yard?”
Image: @taron.marukyan