At sunset, the sky’s this ugly sludge of pink and gray. He pulls his cigarette from his mouth and blows out a cloud of menthol backwash-smoke. The sidewalk to his apartment’s stretching on forever; his legs are getting tired. ‘Fuckin’ hate this assfuck of a city,’ he says, and kicks a can out into the street. The man next to him grins a feral teeth-smile. ‘Then let’s leave.’ And that is the beginning.
