People say time flies when you’re having fun, but that’s bullshit. Time just flies. — Heath Bell
The plan had been to walk Brooklyn, Coney Island to Greenpoint. An early start with a stop for breakfast in Red Hook, and then a beer in Greenpoint, at that little place on the corner. In this way I would mark the day. So come the morning, despite a sore head, a late start, and little desire for a beer at any point during the day, I head out the door. Coffee in hand, I take my seat on the train, and as the wheels begin to turn the world blurs past.
I don’t know how to reach him.
The train takes forever. The initial pleasure in skipping work fades as the commuters disappear, leaving only the Brooklyn bound: tired mothers, complacent children, and one very large, angry leprechaun, whose headphones are not taking him to a calmer place.
Even though I see myself in him all the time.
Coney Island is a sad place on a winter’s day. Bereft of people, the remaining attractions hug the boardwalk like so many dinosaurs, asleep at water’s edge. Dreamland, Luna, and Steeplechase are long gone, replaced by housing projects, empty lots, and sky. The few old buildings left along Surf Avenue continue to fade, making room for an Applebee’s and other improvements reminiscent of a highway rest stop. A runner passes me on the boardwalk, shirtless in the cold Atlantic wind. Older guy. Tough or just crazy? I vote both, and head inland.
The difficulties in maintaining a friendship, and the inevitable sense of betrayal. A process of years in my life; minutes in Heath’s.
Once known as the Road of Dreams, Stillwell Avenue is now a bleak strip of auto repair shops and the occasional decrepit house whose demeanor hints at more prosperous times. A waterside inn perhaps, built along Coney Island Creek when it flowed all the way from Gravesend Bay to Sheepshead, creating an actual island. Now gray and salt-stained from the spray of traffic, it looks barely inhabited. I pass by, looking for hints of life, and then continue on, crossing a bridge over the creek’s stilled waters.
How many times has Amy said “Please don’t go away from me”?
Over the next several hours I chip away at the grid, zigzagging through the streets and avenues, progressing at a glacial pace on my journey of discovery. What do I discover? Brooklyn’s big. And Bensonhurst goes on forever. You heard it here first.
It’s what we do.
Toward the end, hours late for breakfast, legs leaden and feet blistered, having slogged past the auto shops and porn parlors beneath the roar of the BQE, I know I should quit; find a train and head home. But I don’t.
Not caring.
And then, finally, turning left at the first opportunity, the startling quiet of Red Hook.
Buoyed by familiar landmarks, I head in the right direction, but, strangely, the community fails to materialize. I see the projects, the parks, the silos, and even the damn Ikea, but the battered little houses where Brooklyn’s more adventurous denizens raise chickens and children in what feels for all the world like some dusty little prairie town are nowhere to be found. Until suddenly they are, disrupting my sense of geography by appearing at a completely unexpected angle. Having arrived at my destination, I have no idea where I am.
* * *
He appears as I take off my coat, standing awkwardly to one side, shifting slowly from foot to foot, lost in his own living room.
“Hey, Heath.” I toss the words gently, as if they don’t matter, and I wait, not sure if he’s heard me.
And I’m standing at a screen door as my dad tries to coax me into a game of catch. Embarrassed, because I’m not good at catch, but torn because I know I’m disappointing him, I cannot bring myself to step through that door.
After a moment, Heath looks up, walks over, and puts his arms around me, awkwardly, as if he’s afraid to complete the hug.
“Happy Birthday, Dad.”
I pull him close.
“Thanks, Heath.”
Looking over his shoulder, I see Amy shake her head. This was not prompted.
I continue to hold him as long as I can
We feel more than we can show.
And then, without a word, he’s gone.
Playing in the City with Trains 
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