The Pond
He slipped out the front door, quietly closing it behind him, his drunk mother inside watching TV. He had no idea where his father was, but that wasn’t unusual. Max had long ago gotten used to not being cared for. It wasn’t that his parents were necessarily abusive, they just didn’t…well…care. They took no interest in his life, except for the government check they got each month due to his existence. He was used to being left to his own devices and got on just fine. He had been making his own dinner since he was ten. He had turned fourteen just last week. His mom had given him five pounds.
It was spring now, the long cold darkness of winter was gradually giving way to warmer and longer days. Max was glad. This meant he could spend his nights out in the community center, or up on the tenth-floor balcony of his friend’s apartment, or playing basketball in the park. Basically anywhere but the three-room apartment he called “home.” He was headed to the park now, to meet his tenth-floor balcony friend, Sam. Sam had an uncle who always had weed, and Sam had just visited his uncle.
It was a ten-minute walk to the park. The route wasn’t very well lit, with a streetlight maybe every hundred meters or so, and only the soft glows of light spilling out of surrounding apartment windows in-between. Occasionally Max would glance into an apartment window or two, just to see what it was like. It was an odd feeling, to be surrounded by so many people but to know so little of them. In his building alone there were probably about forty people. He knew most of their faces, but none of their names. Perfect strangers who lived the majority of their waking hours only a few meters apart.
Within a few minutes, Max arrived at the park. Someone had brought a little speaker with them, and it was blaring some twitch-streamer rap. Max hated that stuff. He lived by the mantra that people should like what they like, but twitch-streamer rap was like nails on a chalkboard for him. Max hurried past the music and to the bench where he and Sam usually met. Sure enough, Sam was there.
“Hey man! Nice to see you!” said Sam.
“You too! Thanks for getting me out of the house”, Max replied
Sam was in the middle of rolling. The weed was, of course, from his uncle, and the tobacco he usually stole from his parents. Their bench looked out at a little pond situated in the middle of the park. It was calm, except for the dull hum of the boombox in the distance.
“Your Dad come home today?” asked Sam.
Max shook his head.
Sam scoffed.
“Sounds about right”, he said, before quickly adding “I mean, you know, I—”
“No you’re fine. You know how he is”, Max interjected.
Sam finished rolling, and pulled out a lighter, striking it a few times before it caught a flame. He put the flame to the tip of the joint, and took a deep pull.
“Ahh yeah, shit, that’s the stuff” Sam said while handing the joint to Max. Max looked at it a bit before putting it to his lips and taking a pull. He immediately began coughing, which caused Sam to chuckle, but not in a cruel way. More like the way you chuckle when your Grandpa tells an eye-rolling joke while having an unmistakable glint in his eye. Sam patted him on the back a few times.
“It’s alright man, happens to the best of us. Hell, I cough all the time! Fuck people who make fun of you for coughing. No wrong way to smoke, that’s what I say.”
They both shared a laugh before Max passed the joint back to Sam, who took another pull. Minutes passed in silence, while they stared at the pond and passed the joint back and forth. They didn’t say it out loud, but they knew that this was the highlight of both their days. Sam lived with his Dad, and helped out at his Dad’s bodega after school. His Mom had died when he was only four. His Dad, despite being a nice-enough guy, simply didn’t get around to investing much in Sam’s life. He was either working or with his girlfriend. It was Sam’s uncle who made sure he had enough food. It was Sam’s uncle who replaced his shoes when his toes started peeking through.
Soon enough, the joint was just a stub. Max took one last little puff before stamping it out beneath his feet.
“Hey...thanks for like…being there for me and shit” Max stammered.
“Huh? Oh…well you’re welcome mate. You know we got each other’s backs. Got to, out here. God knows nobody else does.” replied Sam.
“Ha! Yeah…fuck God though right? Fucking little prick”
“Yeah man…yeah....” Sam trailed off.
The two friends sat on the bench, letting the hazy mind fog envelop them while admiring the little pond in the park.