Seneca Rebel

THERE WAS A bus stop with a bench a half a block down from Berserk Boots. I would wait forever if it took that long for Dom to get off work. Fortunately, I was comfortable in my new, old sweater and my new boots chosen by Dom but I was still pretty anxious. The bus shelter was packed, so I had to wait for the next bus to come and that crowd to go, before I could snag a seat. I sat there for two hours and didn’t take my eyes off of the shop door. As the wind picked up, it howled between the skyscrapers like coyotes back home in the canyons.

I let my mind drift to the steep, dusty terrain at Will Rogers State Park, where my Dad and I used to hike together at sunset. Even though remembering my dad made me sad, it brought me fortitude. He always had inspired me to overcome my fears. He’d climb ahead up a steep trail and then turn back to help me up, not by offering a hand, but with words. He empowered me to believe in myself. “Turn your feet sideways as you climb and lean forward. Make sure you get a grip with your feet before each step you take.” He knew I could do it before I believed I could. And then I would try. Before I knew it I was up. When we got to the top of the trail, we were rewarded with an unending panorama of the Pacific. The curvature of the earth grounded me.

It made me feel alive and revived.

At seven on the dot, Dom came out. I jumped up and let out a yelp of excitement. A few people at the bus stop gave me funny looks, but I couldn’t have cared less.

Dom headed south and I tracked him from the other side of the street. As soon as there was a break in traffic, I skipped across to his side. He moved fast, with a “places to be” sort of stride, but he couldn’t have kicked me off his trail if he’d tried.

I was about fifteen feet behind him, clutching my flexer, eager and ready to make my move. I was in the zone. Even the chaotic urban soundscape didn’t throw me off. In fact, it played to my energy. I was exhilarated. My new boots hit the sidewalk in sync with each heartbeat. The wind had picked up even more and deep-sea blue washed the salmon-colored sky away as twilight rolled in. The moon rose in the east as the sun slid beyond the skyline on the opposite side of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Dom flipped his hoodie up as he hit the walkways on the bridge. We trekked straight down the middle, elevated slightly above the automobile traffic. I picked up my pace, just a few people behind him now. My entire body vibrated, my vision blurred with each thump of my heart.

Dom stopped in his tracks. The flow of foot traffic kept up around him like he was a rock in rapids. I came to a halt. He spun around. I was busted. But I wanted to be. I needed to be. My muscles relaxed. Here we were. Car horns, engine noises, footsteps, the flowing East River, boats cutting through the water below us, a helicopter in the distance... it all faded away as Dom stared me down, taking a particularly long beat on my boots before returning to my eyes.

“It’s you.”

“It’s me.” I took a step towards him. He took a step back.

“Why are you following me?”

“I know this is going to sound crazy, but you and me– we actually know each other.”

“No, not crazy at all.” His words didn’t match his body language.

I grinned at his sarcasm that I had missed so much and took another step towards him.

“Not another step!”

“Okay, understandable request– please just hear me out.”

“Fine, but from right there.”

It was as if the old paranoia I’d seen in the early days was still alive somewhere, inhabiting a different part of his brain.

“Your parents must love having you home. Are they still involved with the anti-whaling movement?”

His eyes and lips scrunched up. “What do you know about my parents?”

“I know they love you enough to let you go to Japan for school. I know they fight for what they believe in, and you get that from them. It’s really admirable.”

“Alright, you’re really creeping me out right now.”

There was a degree of humor to his confusion, while at the same time it really wasn’t funny at all. And I was scared. Was my attempt at removing the memory block going to work, or would it all be a grand failure right here on the Brooklyn Bridge?

“I hope I can change that.”

I slowly lifted my flexer. Dom watched me intently. His body tightened, on guard. My fingers were numb from the cold, but the rest of my body burned up. My feet tingled and itched, my legs shook. I could see my breath in the air, coming in hard, quick spurts. Dom’s was much more controlled as he consciously breathed through his nose. The coding was set to go on my flexer. All I needed to do now was give the command, and the memory block that had been placed on him would be removed. I looked at my flexer screen and tapped the purple “enter” symbol.

My screen went blank. And then it read, “**command accepted**.” I slowly looked up.

Dom’s bottom lip hung slightly open. The awareness in his eyes, pinned to mine, deepened by the second. He tilted his head ever so slightly and pulled his lips together. They quivered. In my humble little existence, this felt like The Big Bang. It was as if I stood on the verge of a whole new universe being created. Would we inflate into a cosmic singularity or would everything vanish permanently into a black hole?

I didn’t say a word but waited as something organic and true brewed before me in that one-of-a-kind spongy sphere located between Dom’s two ears.

He was fixated on me as tears welled up in his eyes. Then he came towards me, and before I even had a chance to blink, his lips were pressed against mine. I closed my eyes and didn’t move, paralyzed– in a good way this time, a really good way. The ruckus around us vanished. His cold hands tempered the heat that radiated from my face and I fell into a wave of electricity. This kiss was voltaic. My head spun. My stomach dropped. Energy traveled fiercely between our lips. But we were still. And then his bottom lip trembled against mine. I pushed in more, to comfort him. Our lips fused into one, and I was only reminded that we were two separate beings when his hands slowly spread wide across my face and slid down to my shoulders. He pulled me into his enveloping universe, his arms around me. The seal between our lips came undone in slow motion. My eyes were still shut, as I hung onto that moment with every piece of me. His breath was short and quick. I raised my hand up to his chest, our foreheads pressed together. His heartbeat was even faster than mine. I kept my hand there as it slowed. He moved his cheek against mine and he whispered,

“Thank you.”