Reunion

Reunion A dark late-spring night back in the Yard all the lights switched off. Shadows, statues, shapes; grass criss-crossed by ropes and concrete, the moonlight glinting in the puddles. In the maze of paths, nothing is flat. Nothing is straight except those ropes, pulled tight. Time forgot how good I was at jumping fences. One leg over, body sideways. Then, just jump. And run. Ropes and fences. I lay down on the blanket, the wet grass muted by the fleece, but still there to feel beneath me. I waited. And then the music lit up the night. As he emerged through the fog, A Hoop-It-Up T-shirt and cargo shorts, and a pair of those Air Max 97's, the silver bullets caught the light like the water. Headphones. The music swelled as I watched him walk, his lips formed precisely around every rhyme. He bobbed his head. I tapped my bare foot on the dew. 25 years merged into the same melody.