Wonderful day
Sunday, July 22nd, 2007Saturday was a wonderful day. J– and I biked to Coney Island for the Siren Music Festival. We locked up the bikes and walked on the beach. The sand was extra-white and burning hot. I thought J– had superhuman feet until I saw she was wearing sandals.
The water was super-clear and beautiful. I waded in with my jeans rolled up. The water was really cold. So there was only one thing to do. I took off my pants and shirt and, holding my boxers together, jumped in the water and swam out.
There was so much salt in the water that it was really easy to float. I laid back and looked at the sky. It was so easy to float that I sat up and stayed floating. It was so easy to float, if you picture how you are right now, and if you’re not sinking, wherever you are, it’s probably because of the salty water at Coney Island.
We met D– at the music festival. Anthony Perkins’ kid was playing in a band. Elvis Perkins in Dearland had a drummer who switched from playing a heavy beat on a big drumset to jumping around on stage scraping a tiny rasp, and then waddling around pounding a big drum. It was awesome. They even did a cover song. Written by a guy in 1863.
Then I leapt on the subway to go play Capture the Flag. The last time I’d played Capture the Flag was in fifth grade on a soccer field. Both teams have flags , and you try to capture the other team’s flag. You can hide it and run with it, pass it to other players, but if you’re tagged, the other team can take you to jail for ten minutes.
When I showed up on the soccer field, I thought that’s where we’d play. But soon I learned this was a Big Game. Our goals were maybe 20 blocks apart. Bikes were allowed. I was defense in the first game, and when a guy was charging straight at me on his bike, I opened my arms and gave him a big bear hug. He got mad (and tagged out), and later accused me of devious tackling maneuvers. But it was great.
In the second game, five of us rode a bus to the other team’s flag. In the third game, Z– convinced some random guy to give us a ride for a surprise attack to grab the flag. We won 2 to 1.
It was interesting, because the playing area was so big, we used cellphones to radio in reports and to announce when the game was over. When the game was over, only a few people knew for sure who’d won until we all regrouped in the center of the soccer field. I thought of All Quiet on the Western Front where the soldiers don’t know when the war is won until after. I’m not used to playing games where the winning is so definite yet so distant.
We’ll probably play again soon and I can’t wait.
All in all, a perfect outdoors day.
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