Cygnus and Christopher

Chapter Six

Workbenches lined the walls of the garage. Neatly organized tools hung behind the benches or were placed into pull out drawers. Light bulbs of various colors and sizes occupied the surfaces. Some sat by themselves and others hung on stands or were strung together on cords.

Jonathan had been making light fixtures for as long as I can remember. He didn’t sell very many, he didn’t try to. “It is just a hobby,” is what he usually said. Something to fill his idle time with. An act of creation for the sake of creation, and also for the sake of decay. Jonathan typically didn’t replace bulbs. If a light burned out, it was thrown away, or recycled, or buried, or something.

However, there was one project he clung onto throughout the years. A bicycle with lights along the frame and on the spokes of the wheels. As far as I knew Jonathan still worked on and updated it. Christopher used to help work on it, but I think it had been years since he labored over its progress. Anyways, the bicycle was there the first day I went to Christopher’s house and was there the day we graduated high school, tucked in the corner, resting on a kickstand.

We did not ride the bike with lights on it. So when we departed for the beach we took other ones. We rode along dirt roads, taking it easy then going down hills. I had trouble keeping up with Christopher even though he was the one who carried a backpack with whiskey, vodka, mixers, and a Frisbee. Only a couple of cars passed us as when went along. Sounds of tires over gravel and running engines grew and faded when we crossed paths. Above us the warm sun was a magnet. It pulled sweat out of our skin and made our destination all the more appealing.

On the left side of the road there was a small opening in the tree line. Appearing as a gate or portal from the road. A dim oval floating between trunks. We turned into it and began what might be my favorite part of the ride. A narrow dirt path, mostly downhill with snaking curves and pleasant scenery. At the end it opens up to a white sand beach that gradually sloped into a small lake.

We were well practiced in transitioning from trail to water; slowed and hopped off our bikes in one fluid motion right before reaching the sand, removed our shirts while we ran towards the water, dove beneath the surface heard the damping of the day, came up and felt we had finally distanced ourselves from the sad moments whose sun never sets in our memories and the radiation they left to linger. All these times of pleasant forgetfulness never last. They were just an eclipse, the moon moved and those feelings came back.

Even if incapable of complete existential purification, the water felt nice. Sweat washed off me and disappeared into the lake. It was like a marriage perhaps. I gave to the lake and it gave back. Wind  blew wet hair across my face and lifted waves onto the water’s surface, an official ordination of the union between the lake and myself. And Christopher was in the water. And so were numerous fish, plants, and grains of sand. Maybe we all married each other that moment when the wind rolled through.

From behind me, towards the deeper part of lake, I heard a splash and a gasp. “That was a new record, it must of been. My lungs almost burst, ya know.” Christopher treaded water and sucked the atmosphere into his lungs. From shallower water with my feet on the sand, I was unable to confirm or deny if Christopher had set a new record. “Oh I am sorry. I wasn’t counting.” He flipped onto his back and swam away. “No biggy, pretty sure it was.”

When about chest deep in the water the bottom became a soft muk. It felt kinda welcoming. The earth sleepy pulled me in. Mud and aquatic plants enveloped my ankles and then my shins, like a parent placing blankets around me. Sirens softly sang bedtime lullabies and I closed my eyes to better hear the tune. But I didn’t sink all the way through the earth. The ground became too hard, my welcome expired, and I walked to shore.

My towel took the water off my skin. The droplets disappeared into the fabric. Freshly dried off, I ate some food and then prepared to nap on the beach. I pretended I was a lizard, let the sun do all the work to warm my body, become a passive consumer of things that feel nice. And so on the sand I sank into sleep. A brief sleep. For, I awoke to voices with the sun sunk only slightly lower in the sky.

“Christopher! Cygnus! Thought you might be here.” The voice sounded somewhat familiar. I blinked my eyes open and saw Nicole standing above me. Next to her stood someone I did not recognize. I gave a nod of a greeting and Christopher entered flirt mood. “So that is why you came?” A little laugh floated out of Nicole. “Perhaps your presence was a small factor.” The two of them, Christopher and Nicole, occasionally engaged on a somewhat romantic and sexual level throughout the past year.

We sat in a circle and passed around the whiskey and vodka. After the bottles made it around a couple times, I only took tiny sips, I realized I still did not know the name of the person who came with Nicole.

“I am sorry, but I don’t think I got your name? Or maybe you said it when I was just waking up and missed it and yeah anyways I am Cygnus and this Christopher.” The stranger spoke at almost a whisper. “My name is Alex. Nice to meet you two, Nicole speaks highly of you.” The bottle of whiskey is polished off by Christopher. “As she should, we are stand up dudes.” I blushed at Christophers proclamation. “And thinking of standing up I am gonna go to the woods for a smoke ya know. Any of you want to come?” Alex responded first with a “No thanks.”

A bit of pot sounded kinda nice, but Christopher glanced at Nicole and then at me in such I way that I began to doubt smoking was the primary motivation for Christopher wishing to get to a more private location. So I shook my head no. Nicole stood up, “I am down for sure, haven’t smoked since this morning.” And off they went to the woods, leaving Alex and me on the beach.

Alex poked at some sand with a stick. Little swirls and geometric patterns trailed behind the narrow piece of tree. “Cygnus, what do you plan on doing after this summer?” I was curious to learn more about Alex, but I guess this is what we were going to talk about. The section of sand with drawings got larger, one section began to look like a distorted version of my face. “I don’t know. I mean I thought about going to college, but I don’t really know what I’d want to study and Christopher decided to go to school far away and well I guess I kinda like it around here. So I thought maybe I’ll work and save up some money. Maybe take a few trips. How about you?” Alex stopped sketching and looked out over the water. “Sometimes I do not like to think about it too much, but thankfully, or maybe not thankfully, I’ve got another year of high school left so that is probably what I will be doing. But for now I guess I just want to look at the water.” On the far edge lake the half set sun sat like a hat on the water. It felt picturesque in a way, looking over water, watching the sunset, wondering if the school year was ending or the summer was starting and if there was a difference between those two things.

I laid on my back and closed my eyes, took long slow breaths. I wanted to go slow, soak up every good thing that drifted by me. Once again Alex spoke in a whisper. “May I kiss you?” On most days such a statement may have felt jarring or confusing but on that day it felt natural, sublime even.

I kept my eyes closed and nodded. Alex knelt over me and kissed me. The kissing slowly marched forward in intensity. I thought about trying to take things further, but the moment had a sense of purity and innocence about it that I did not want to ruin.

Our picturesque romance was interrupted by a stumbling Christopher. “Get a load of these two. Sucking face on the sand. Hey that could be a good poem title.” I opened my eyes and Alex leaned in and whisper “thanks” into my ear. A few feet behind Christopher, Nicole laughed uncontrollably.

Once Nicole finished laughing, we walked up the trail as a group. First we hugged each other as group and then broke into two paired hugs; Nicole and Christopher, Alex and myself. After that Alex and Nicole headed out on foot to Nicole’s house.

Christopher removed the vodka and took a pull while we watched them walk away. It didn’t take long for them to disappear into the twilight. He offered me a pull and I took a small one and handed the bottle back to him. Soon the bottom of the bottle was to the sky and Christopher finished off a bottle for a second time that day. He put the empty bottle back into his backpack and gave his opinion of the first day of summer. “One hell of a start to this final summer ya know.” I agreed. “Yeah I think so.” At first it seemed like that was the end of the conversation, but Christopher had one last bit to add. “Well as long as I don’t end up a father in nine months.”