The lights were vibrant from where she sat. The typical light bulbs formed a border to the flashing sign, which, from another angle, read ‘Arcade’ in big block letters. There was something she had always found fascinating about red light against the deep dark blue of almost night, though it occurred to her that this might not be unique to herself. Her butt was starting to chill as its warmth escaped through her denim jeans to the metal bench she was situated upon. This didn’t bother her much at the moment, so lost in thought that the physical world was a distant stimulant of colour and sound. She could hear, see, and feel everything in a chaotic and overwhelming way; it was all from an outside perspective that didn’t reach her directly.
From the South an imposing figure ambled toward her and sat down on the next segment of the wooden bench. He took a drag of his Pall Mall XL and sat staring at the same patch of sky. Without a word he took another drag and held it out expectantly in front of her. Hesitation. She reached out to grab it despite her effort, of late, to avoid the toxic intake of breath that was smoking. When the last light of the cherry was crushed beneath her boot, they stood in unison and pushed through the door to the arcade as one unit.
“After this it’s Seattle and a moose. We’re getting to the end of the list, where it suddenly becomes more complicated to achieve my goals.” She said this right as the door opened, as if they had been in conversation long before they hit the arcade.
“Didn’t we see a moose at the zoo? Doesn’t that count?” Even he sounded dubious about the legitimacy of his comment.
A look he had grown to know well, and that answered his question, was thrown his way as they hurried toward the back of the establishment. They passed the teenagers playing pinball who were all grouped around one machine as if they could only afford a single game. Then the drunken group of men further back who were playing a racing game. They were yelling loud exclamations of defeat and success in a jumble of words that made little sense, but seemed to be understood by the group. Beyond this the games ended and a line of booths stood against the back wall. The two figures stood with hands at their sides, staring at the row of booths.
“I’m not sure if it’s stranger to go in together or separately.”
“Separate. If we go together we can laugh it off as a social experiment.” His reasoning worked for her.
With that they disappeared into a booth. Together they managed to slot the right amount of coinage in and a picture began to play on the screen. From outside the booth, the sound of a girl moaning could be heard with the slap, slap, slap, of skin on skin. Over top of this sound, was the commentary of the two who had entered, coupled with fits of hysterical laughter. One of the kids at the pinball machine blushed a little while the rest ignored the sounds. The drunken men cheered the commentary on as two of their cohort collided in an alcohol-fueled accident of animated proportions.