David Beagle

It was a cool and breezy night on Coney Island; large clouds loomed in the sky permitting the almost full moon to shine through only on occasion.  Most of the people were exiting the boardwalk to head home, but a small crowd was gathering around the rails next to the beach, anticipating the upcoming fireworks show.

“I can’t believe it’s almost the end of summer.” said Joshua.

“Yeah,” responded Farina, “there was so much other stuff I wanted to do before school.”

“Hey, I’m the wistful, melancholy one, okay? You’re generally more plucky, so what’s up?”

“I just feel like we didn’t do enough, I mean, we don’t have many summer vacations left, you know?” Farina looked across the beach speaking again, “I don’t what’s gotten into me.”

“Kevin, perhaps?” Joshua suggested with a grin.

“Shut up, we’re just friends!”

“Namaste, amigos!”

Joshua and Farina turned toward where they heard the voice, recognizing their friend Caesar approaching.  He was born to a mixed family so he had a distinct appearance and was easily confused for Hispanic, South Asian, and various types of Mediterranean.  His family moved around a lot when he was a child, too, so he always had trouble answering people when they inevitably asked him what he was or where he was from.  Eventually, he realized he had more fun just making up stories drawing from his background and experience; so, he started pretending to be different ethnicities every couple of days or weeks, which was always entertaining to the people who knew him well.

“So, Indian-Mexican today, huh?” Joshua asked.

“Indian-Ecuadorian, actually.” responded Caesar cheerfully.

“Of course.” said Joshua as he chuckled and turned back to beach.  Shouldn’t the fireworks have started by now?”.

“I heard there was an accident somewhere on the beach, so they got delayed.” said the man standing next to Farina.

“Some drunk crashed his boat on the shore.” continued an elderly woman sitting on the bench.

Farina stretched and groaned, “If the show ends up being cancelled then he’ll have totally messed up our last night out.”

“That’s pretty mean Fay-Fay,” said Caesar. “Aren’t you worried about the guy or if anyone got hurt?”.

“Of course I am.” she responded earnestly.

“Honesty, I expected you to say that Joshua.” said Caesar while pretending to ignore her.

“She’s been stealing my thunder all night.” sighed Joshua.

“Stop picking on me.” Farina said while pouting, making all three of them laugh.

Joshua reached into his pocket to take out his phone and check the time, but accidently pulled his keychain out with it.  It fell to ground and Farina bent down to pick it up, noticing one key in particular.

“Hey Joshy, what’s this?”

“Oh, it’s a handcuff key.”

“A handcuff key?”

“Yes, a handcuff key.”

Farina paused and let out a sigh.  “Should I even ask why you have this?”.

“You should,” responded Joshua, as he leaned on the railing, arms crossed over his chest, “it’s a good story.”

A silence passed over the trio.  Farina stared expectantly at Joshua, while he didn’t take his eyes off the Parachute Jump in the distance. Caesar looked back and forth between the two of them, not entirely sure of what was happening.

“Well?” asked Farina impatiently.

“Well, what?” answered Joshua calmly.

“Why aren’t you telling the story?”

“You didn’t ask yet.”

Caesar laughed and Farina put her face in her palm, “Just tell us the story.”

Joshua shifted his weight, put his hands in his pockets, took a breath, and started. “It was a few years ago, in middle school.  There was this one small store on the corner near the school that my friends and I went to.  The owners were jerks and we were stupid, so we would occasionally steal things – snacks, cans of beer, a few lighters.  We were browsing the shelves one day when one of the workers picked a friend of mine up and threw him behind the counter before calling the police.  The rest of us looked at him, and then at each other, and ran; to the school, to the park, to our homes, anywhere away from the store and without a second thought.  We met up in the schoolyard later and saw the friend that was caught.  After crying and paying for the stuff he had on him the police and store let him go, but we were all banned from entering the store again.  He told us that he really wasn’t trying to steal that time, that he just walked by the door on his way to the cashier.  I still don’t know if he was telling the truth or not.”

“But, where does the key come in?” Caesar asked.

“I bought it a few days later and showed it off as something to use just in case we got caught again.  I actually don’t know if it works, and even if it did, it wouldn’t do much good while it’s on my chain like it is.  I keep it as a reminder of how weak I was then.  That I didn’t do anything to help my friend, that I didn’t own up to what I did, that I even involved myself in the first place.”

The fireworks finally began, and Joshua turned to look at them.  Caesar and Farina looked at one another, unsure of what to do or say.  Joshua looked over his shoulder, smiled, and said, “The fireworks look great, don’t they?”.

“You don’t talk a lot, but when you do it’s some pretty heavy stuff.” said Caesar as he and Farina moved up to the railing.

“You ought to talk more often.” chimed in Farina.

“I’d run out of things to say.” Joshua replied with a shrug.  “We’ve got a few more days off, you guys want to go wander around the city or something tomorrow?” Turning to Farina, he continued, “We could invite Kevin.”

“Who’s Kevin?” Caesar asked while laughing.

“No one! Shut up Joshy!” Farina yelled over the fireworks before joining the other two in laughter.