Tao Lin - Shoplifting From American Apparel

They opened a wooden gate and walked into the backyard. They saw people through a window moving around and laughing inside the house. They walked by the school bus and sat side-by-side at a picnic table. It was dark and quiet in the backyard. Sam took out his MacBook and asked Audrey if she wanted to check her email. “I don’t check my email,” she said. “My Toshiba broke. I don’t even have Gmail.” Sam started playing a song on his MacBook and said he liked the song and stopped it at eight seconds. Audrey said something about the drums being good. Sam put his MacBook in his backpack. They sat looking ahead, away from the house, at some tents and a fence and another house. Sam felt Audrey touching his head a little.

“I can’t do the massage thing,” she said quietly and stopped touching him.

There was a thing on the table and Sam touched it.

“What is this,” he said.

They touched the thing and looked at it.

“So you’re going back tomorrow?” said Audrey.

“Yeah,” said Sam. “My plane is at seven.”

“Am I ever going to see you again?”

“I don’t know,” said Sam after a few seconds.

“I want to go to New York City,” said Audrey.

“When?” said Sam.

“Soon,” said Audrey.

“What would you go for?”

“A better life,” said Audrey.

“Oh, you want to move there.” Sam looked at his cell phone and opened and closed it a few times. He laid his head on his arms facing away from Audrey. People in the house were talking and playing acoustic guitar.

“Well, I’ll probably just head back soon,” said Audrey.

“Okay,” said Sam and put his elbows on the table. “A mosquito bit my face last night,” he said. “When I was sleeping on the bus.” He touched his cheek and turned toward Audrey. He looked at her face as she looked at his cheek. He looked down at his cell phone in his lap.

“My cell phone is almost out of batteries,” he said.

“That sucks. You’ll probably need it tomorrow.”

They sat quietly for about ten seconds. There were faraway sounds of people doing things in other parts of the town.

“What did you want to be when you grew up?” said Audrey.

“Marine biologist,” said Sam.