hearted

Dearest Iqbal-

I hope you have passed a pleasant Easter. I have been told on numerous occasions the apparently intriguing morsel of knowledge the the Muslims (they too!) thought that Jesus Christ was special (if not exactly the Christ). Was there a celebration? I seem to remember also (separate morsel) that they Muslims suspect he did not die but simply went elsewhere. It's like two editors arguing over the same manuscript. One wants to silence the hero on page 287, the other is inclined to let him lounge on earth out for another hundred pages or so. Give me the punch-line over the peter any day.

I was in the Kingdom when Easter dawned, but Angela wasn't there. I met the girl from Sao Paulo instead. Why in God's name was she here? Well apparently Sao Paulo has the greatest population of Japanese outside of Japan. So why in God's name are you here? Well, of course, no prophet is understood in their own home. I got her a gin and tonic, before she asked for it.

As the bar was closing, I made a proposition to the South American beauty. I wholly expected her to say no, so when she didn't I questioned her again.

The girl from Sao Paulo told me that she wasn't exactly half-hearted. I was thrilled because I knew there was no way I could jump the gate by myself. I'd need to push her over, and then she'd pull me over. It was thrilling even if there was no serious criminal intent. We weren't going to break anything or take anything, and our goal was not even the place that we were trespassing.  

I'd been here many times before, always with a girl. Always with a girl that I'd stumbled out of the Kingdom with. When I describe the view of the sunset from the loading dock they are always enthralled. "Let's go."  But when we reach the fence, and they see how high it is they always change their mind. "My skirt is too short," is a common excuse, but really it's the fear of legal recrimination that sends them scurrying home on the L train. 

The fence was high and metallic. Probably 10 feet; that wasn't the problem. The issue was the top 2 feet which were angled out, making it nearly impossible to scale. But two could do it, without a problem. 

I hoisted her up lifting her from the waist. She clenched the angled part of the fence, settled the toe of her boot into the metallic grate of the fence, and then gently (and modestly) pulled herself over. I began my ascent while she waited atop. When I reached the vertex of the angle, I reached through the fence for her hand. This was the moment where two was needed. She held me as I leaned out away from the fence and slid over it. We propelled down in easy jumps. We wiped the rust off our hands and set out. Between us and the loading dock where we could watch the sunrise was an empty factory.

We moved quitely and swiftly, but easily. Once the first law had been broken the rest seemed venial. We came to the gate of the factory. It was bolted with a rotted wooden latch. It crumbled as we pulled on it and slipped into the big open room. 

It was empty, but so wet that our footsteps didn't echo. We walked down the long corridor, the dirty window, dirty from years of rust and shit and rain were like stained glass, different colors reflecting in the dark room as the light outside got bluer and brighter. 

We reached the far end. I could smell the river. I held my watch up to a beam of dirty light; 7:12. Minutes until sunrise.

"There must be a door," she said. And we began to blindly feel along the walls, looking for a frame, a knob or a latch. "By the time it will be bright enough to see where the door is the sun will be up!"

"Who the fuck is in here?" screamed a hoarse voice from the far end. 

Me and the girl from Sao Paulo froze. "We left the door open," I whispered. "He must have seen it."

The security guards flashlight beamed down across the empty space.

"Go along the walls. We can get out behind him."

We each followed the walls, opposite walls, towards the front. His location was apparent, the source of the beam, but we were hidden, clinging to wet walls.  We reached the door at the same moment and slipped through, but the door creaked slightly. The beam of light swung around towards us. We broke out into a run heading for the gate. 

As we reached, she hoarsely implored "You first this time." I leapt for the gate, climbing to the top and then waiting there on the angle for her. But I slipped and fell on the far side, landing on my back, the breathe was knocked out of me and I couldn't see. When I awoke the guard had handcuffs on the girl from Sao Paulo and the sun had risen.

They both stared at me.

"Do you know this girl?" the guard asked. Her eyes were quite large. "Do you know this girl, I said. Do you recognize her?"

I was silent.

"You fucking alright, kid?"

"I'm fine. Yes, I know her. We broke in together. Climbed the gate."

The guard looked away. "Fine."

He turned the key and released the girls hands. She stared at me, while the guard inserted a key into the electronic lock and the metallic gate slide out from between us.

-Robert de Saint-Loup