Jeffery Allen - Rails Under My Back

John’s lips tightened on the pretzel, a woman’s tongue. You know why they call it the Big Apple?

Why?

Cause they bitin a big plug out of it.

Who?

You know who. They never stray far from their nature.

You got something against—

No. I love bitches.

Lucifer fired down his drink. He saw Sheila’s body reflected in another body. Tell you now — leaning over the table — got to have a lot of bucks in New York. Some expensive women there.

You act like I never been there befo.

I guess it’s because we never went there together.

New York New York.

So bad they had to say it twice.

Only thing I don’t like bout New York, no alleys.

Got that right.

No alleys, no place to piss.

New York New York.

Those slopes run it now.

That’s what I hear.

You better believe it.

Man, someday those slopes gonna convert the White House into condominiums.

Shit, the mayor talkin bout sellin Red Hook to some slopes. Throw Stonewall in for free.

Man, those slopes are something else.

The Man got them in his hip pocket.

Mr. Slope, he is the Man.

They bent over in bellyaching laughter. Lucifer clapped, hard and fast, until he noticed some of the other patrons flinging stares in his direction. He and John had spent that morning, like so many others in the old days, conversing about the Man. They had developed a whole mythology. He was a white man (what else?) with white hair and a white beard, wore a white suit with matching shoes, drove a white Caddy, drank milk, owned a white cat, liked mayonnaise in his food, and ate only white bread (of course). The myth had spilled from them as they tried to keep their voices level, above the rising and falling alcohol sway, away from the monitoring eyes in the lounge. The myth took Lucifer away from his own situation. He and Sheila had gotten into an argument that morning.

Have a good one, Sheila says.

I ain’t going to work today.

What? She is dressing for work — the long train ride to the Shipcos in Deerfield — white snatches of cloth in both fists.

I already called in.

Well, where you hurrying off to?

John.

John? There is no mistaking the look in her eyes.

Yeah. He called while you was in the shower. He’s going out of town.

We ain’t heard hide nor hair of him in a month and he calls and you gon run off jus like that?

Well, I —

What yall up to?

Look at that bitch over there. Not over there. Over here. The twin motionless glare of John’s spectacles, motioning with his eyes. The one with the French braids. I’d like to teach her some mo French.

Lil brother, Lucifer said, ain’t you got enough women?

True. But a man is an army. Gotta have your reserves.

There it is.

John kicked his legs to straighten his trousers. He finished his drink and ordered another. One for the show and two for the road.

The TV mushroomed into life above the bar. Flicked quick color-catching images. A rim and backboard shudder like birds. A black figure sprints down a runway. Takes to the sky. Rail-thin, Flight Lesson sails thirty feet above the court — bouncing on the pole vaults of his legs — in slow motion. He can truly fly. He feather-floats back to earth. Leaps into outer space. Reaches out his tentacle-long arm. Grabs a Cool Breeze. Hermès Athletic Shoes and Cool Breeze, the winning combination. Behind him, the moon shimmers like a half-dollar. Freeze-frame, he hangs in the air, perfectly still. Legs tucked under him like landing gear. Their last wedding anniversary, Lucifer and John had taken Sheila and Gracie to Air Waves, Flight Lesson’s new restaurant. Reservations. Black tie. C-note entrees. Five-dollar cups of coffee. Live jazz. Vinyl doggy bags. Lucifer gave the waiter a heavy tip for choice seats. Flight Lesson dined with his family in a glassed-in booth at the restaurant’s center.

Man, John said. He nodded at the TV screen in direct line of his sight. Dap coulda cut that motherfucker.

Yeah. Dap was made for basketball. A hoop machine.

A legend.

Pros chumps these days.

Spoiled.

Too much money.

And pussy.

Lucifer laughed a good laugh.

You coulda cut that motherfucka. John’s spectacles were trained on the screen.

Yeah. In the old days.

There it is.

And you coulda beat him too.

Me? John curved the spectacles onto Lucifer’s face. Nawl.

Yeah you.

Lucifer looked toward the end of the bar, where the bartender — he stood against the day; an aquarium-long piece of frosted glass filled up the space behind him — a rag knotted in his fist, tried to hide his interest in them. He wiped down the bar. Lucifer finished his beer in slow, deliberate swallows, then tabled the empty glass. Think it will do any good?

Nope. We had our day in the sun.

So why you goin? For Spokesman and Spin?

John thought about it for a moment. Nawl. For myself.

Lucifer said nothing. He thought he knew what John meant. He caught a flash. Smelled a thin gray streak, a match’s trail. John met his eyes in the mirror. Immediately, he moved his eyes and tried to read time on his gold watch. 1300 hours, he said, grinning. Time for my train. He drained his drink. Lucifer saw the nerve gathering in him. The lenses snapped shut like a cigarette lighter. He blinked and burned off the alcohol. Stood.

Lucifer stood up also.

John pulled a thick pad of folded bills from his pocket.

Lucifer wanted to say, You’re wasting time and money, but he had learned long ago that trying to stop John was like trying to dam a river with a Band-Aid. John paid the bartender with a single bill from the fat pad.

Keep the change.

Thanks. The bartender wiped down the bar. His eyes maintained their curiosity.

Lucifer lifted John’s single small suitcase. Surprised at its heaviness. He had expected light, phantom weight.

Damn, nigga. What you got in here, bricks?

John grinned. Something like that. He hoisted the flight bag up to his shoulder, heavy-like, thick rope. Jus some extra things. You gotta be prepared.

Didn’t the Man teach you how to pack light?

They walked through cavernous hallways, nearly empty but with spurts of hustle — Lucifer’s steps so light he couldn’t tell where he put his feet down — their shadows sliding along green- and violet-tinged marble walls. Girders and glass lifted above them and somewhere far above that the conical station roof, clean metal that spilled out into light. Their heels sounded against the last length of the tunnel. In the distance, smoking trains signaled a wavy beam of noise.

Wait, John said. I need some squares.

They stopped at a vendor pushed deep in the tunnel wall. In the old days, no vendors here. Only a blind man or two trying to drum up some pennies. John would drop a dirty washer or greasy ball bearing into the blind man’s tin cup, then pocket a handful of yellow pencils.

Give me two packs of New Life.

Lucifer and John continued, the tunnel growing crowded now, passengers filing through, their dragged luggage echoing through the marble station chambers. Lucifer and John broke the tunnel’s mouth. Steam hissed up from the tracks below.

John moved his flight bag from one shoulder to the other with perfect lightness. He was anxious for the trip. His face was burning with it. And his eyes — Lucifer caught glimpses of them — red at the edges.

He handed John the suitcase.

Remember the las time we rode the train together?

Yeah. The spectacles masked John’s eyebrows, but Lucifer could see the eyes clearly, brown and lined with red threads.