This is a true story, because for the life of me there is no way I could have made something like this up on my own, even if I wanted to. Actually, I still don’t believe most of it. I think it all started one night when I was talking to my friend Jasmine about how our friends Paul, Eddie and Frank all met during one magical summer when they all started smoking pot, had all gotten arrested, but still managed to remain good friends. Like brothers.
“What’s a magical summer?” Jasmine asked as she turned her purple Mohawk at me with a quizzical grin on her face. I think I said something like: “It’s that one summer that’s a rite of passage, where everything is special and the world isn’t the same afterwards. Like the movies but in real life.” Jasmine turned her head upwards and contemplated what I said.
“I’ve never had a summer like that.” She said. I thought for a moment and noticed that I could see the constellation Orion from where I was standing. The universe always seems so small in Los Angeles, the tiny pieces of glass in the sidewalk are all the stars we usually see in this brightly lit city that’s like a night sky flipped upside down. The sky we see from our starry sidewalks is covered with orange blankets of streetlights and clouds at night.
“I’ve never had a summer like that either.” I was walking her home that night and I hadn’t really thought of what we talked about. It was just one of those things that people mention, but they say that sometimes the door to heaven is open and when that door is open God is listening.
“But I’d like to.”
I guess I was asking for it.