Lurk by Adam Vine

Author:Adam Vine [Vine, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Lilydog Books
Published: 2016-10-25T04:00:00+00:00

***

I stepped through the basement door into our backyard orchard.

I was walking through the fruit trees under a full and pale moon, the bare black branches replaced by vibrant fruit. Instead of chilly winter, I felt a warm summer breeze. Someone was toking a chronic blunt nearby, its rank odor thick between the sweet scents of apple and grapefruit blossoms. A few paces ahead, through a break in the trees, I saw a group of people jumping on a trampoline.

There were five of them. I recognized their faces instantly: Andy, Apple, Marty, Gloria, Rebecca. Benny the Piano Man was missing, but his absence aside, the entire 1993 Sunny Hill Crew was there.

Andy did a backflip and called out, “Drew-buddy!

Apple bounced and folded her legs mid-air like a yogi, the ginger parachute of her hair furling and unfurling. She put one leg behind her head, bounced and said, “Dude, like, come jump on this thing with us! It’s super chill!” Super chill. Something Bea would say.

Marty bounced casually, took a mid-air puff off of the blunt in his hand, then bounced over and passed the weed to Rebecca. “Get up here, dawg,” Marty said to me. “You too uptight. Stay a while. Hang out with us.” Carter calls me dawg, too, never seriously, but with the same ironic tone Marty just used.

Rebecca smiled at me. “You’re pretty cute. But I can see why that girl doesn’t like you. You don’t know how to have fun.”

Before I could respond, Gloria, who was bouncing along the edge of the trampoline in a big circle, said, “You make me sad, Drew. Those were our memories you burned. They were supposed to stay at Sunny Hill forever. Now, you ruined it. Are you gonna make it up to us?”

Andy laughed. “Christ, Lor. He doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing. Give the kid a break.”

“He will, soon.”

“Do you always have to sound like the motherfuckin’ Crypt Keeper when we talk about this shit?” Marty said.

Gloria shrugged. “Kill yourself.” Exactly what Natalia would say, I thought.

Apple rolled her eyes. “God, can we talk about something else?”

“Drew,” Andy stopped jumping and extended his hand, “bounce with us.”

Reluctantly, I took Andy’s hand and climbed onto the trampoline. I thought my weight would cause it to break. I was surprised it hadn’t already, with five fully grown adults jumping on it, but I knew this orchard wasn’t our orchard, with the same physical laws as the Sunny Hill I’d left behind, but some other version, like an off-color copy. We could all bounce together, because we were in the Other Sunny Hill.

The trampoline didn’t stress at all under my weight, and actually seemed to bounce us even better with me on it. I jumped.

“Look around,” Andy said. “Don’t you just love it here, buddy? If these trees could talk, huh? Bet they seen some crazy shit. You ever put a couch out here, get a cute girl, and just lay down to watch the stars? Take a couple of forties, get her clothes off, and… oh, sorry buddy.

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