Cluster - Gissander [mp3]
Dave had just finished smoking his cigarette when I came out.
“Ah hell. I guess I’ll have to smoke another.”
“Yeah, if you want. We could discuss things over a cigarette.”
Dave lit his cigarette and mine too with a struck match. I had my hands in my coat pockets looking for a lighter and instead I found a piece of paper with the words “Actually, it’s a John Hancock jumper long sleeve shirt” written in sloppy cursive. I handed the paper to Dave and he said that she must have been cute.
The porch is attached to the back of our second story apartment. Below us is a parking lot for the convenience store found in the first floor. We stood smoking in silence for a moment, staring ahead at whatever objects filled our vision. I was looking at a squirrel when a familiar car pulled into the parking lot. It sat dead, the engine hissing slightly in the cold, it’s sparkly silver glistening in a way that concealed the possibility of sentience. The door burst open and a man hopped out, all nerves and withdrawal.
“There he is,” says Dave. I just nod. The man paces the length of his luxury sport utility vehicle, looking left and right as he nears the street. Once he determines that the parking lot is secure, a lit cigarette materializes and the man begins to smoke feverishly. Dave takes an audible drag on his cigarette, sucking the smoke deep into his lungs and blowing it out with above average force. He observes, “This is the fourth time I’ve seen him out there smoking in the last two days.” The man’s glance darts left and right and for a second I wonder if he might finally notice us up above, watching his every movement. I say to Dave, “How does he not ever notice us? We’ve been watching him smoke cigarettes in this parking lot for the last week and somehow he never notices.” Dave thinks maybe since he’s so distracted by the notion that someone (who?) might catch him smoking street level that it never occurs to him that someone above him is fully aware of his strange habit of rapidly smoking cigarettes in the parking lot of Lulu’s Deli.
“I’m gonna go down to talk to him.” I tell Dave. I stub out my cigarette and Dave raises his eyebrows. “I am going to tell him we know. I’m curious how he will respond.” I go downstairs to meet the man in the parking lot. He jumps into his vehicle and quickly rolls the windows up at the sight of me, his cigarette disappearing as neatly as it always appears. He doesn’t start the engine though. I knock on the driver’s side window and make a motion that he should roll down his window.
Above Dave is watching with interest and he holds his breath to hear our interaction. It’s all mumbles though and he starts to wonder what we are saying. He guesses that I am telling him about our perch above and that we know he smokes. He guesses that the man is excusing our perception that he is a secret smoker and maybe the man is suggesting that from our perch it is difficult to understand the world below. Dave wonders for a moment if maybe the man is right, maybe looking down on the parking lot from a porch one story above ground does cause a misunderstanding of the world below and then he finishes his cigarette.
Dave goes back inside before I finish talking to the man. We have been talking about Colombia and the man has just invited me to his villa down there and Dave too. I tell him that’s not what I came down to talk about but he just shrugs and turns the key. I take a step back and watch him drive off. Back upstairs Dave asks me how things went. I say, “We talked about his villa in Colombia.” Dave kind of laughs and then he selects a book from the shelf standing next to the desk where he is seated. He hands it to me and says, “Sometimes we don’t see things that are there. Sometimes our eyes play tricks on our head.”
Cluster is a rhythm and blues band from Berlin. The featured song is from the album Qua. Purchase the music at Amazon | Insound | eMusic.
