03.12.02 :: 9:47 am


When the two beams of blue busted through all the way up to the stratosphere, I thought about Elkin, a boy in my neighborhood that I grew up with.

Last week when I had drinks with my mom and Nicky (the closest thing I have to a brother), he told us that Elkin died September 11, in his office in Tower 1.

It's the strangest feeling; I instantly remembered two things:

He was the first on our block to try out Jo-Jo's dare of "one gallon of milk in an hour" and leaned on his bat when he eventually had to throw up from all that dairy.

He let me ride his bike around the park once, and stood on the pegs behind me.

It felt good in a way to see, last night, two megawatted flashlights lighting the way to Whatever-There-Is-Up-There for him.

I wish they could stay on always.


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