"Levy-NewHorizons" - читать интересную книгу автора (Levy Robert J)

So there we were, Mitch and I, watching silently as the normally squalid streets
of Queens were momentarily transformed into the gleaming kingdom of my wildest
fantasies by the impossible violet light of the waning sun.

"Will you look at that, Doug!" Mitch said, staring at the sunset.

"What?" I said, acting dumb. I watched Mirth struggle for words, words he did
not have. Mitch was not a verbal sort.

"It's . . . so, like, purple. You know?"

"Sure, Mitch. I sure do."

"Kinda . . . beautiful." There were tears in Mitch's eyes, which he wiped away
furiously. "You tell anybody about this and I break your face."

"Hey man," I said holding up my hands in mock boxing defense, "I'm cool." I'd
had a minor revelation: Even inexpressive guys like Mitch can yearn for
something beyond the shabby streets of Rego Park.

Abruptly, it was night. We looked up at the sky, heating the distant wash of
expressway traffic mingle with the electric chirping of crickets in the
weed-strewn areas around the train tracks.

Then we saw something.

It was not, by any means, a traditional heavenly manifestation. No shafts of
celestial light coursed down from the firmament. No angelic choirs sang. What
Mitch and I witnessed was something both infinitely more mundane and vastly more
peculiar.

At the extreme opposite end of Burton Street, a door seemed to open in the sky
-- just for an instant -- and then it dosed. It was as though a panel of
darkness of slightly different hue than the surrounding darkness unlocked and
shut. But in that second we saw something tumble toward a vacant lot about two
blocks away. In no time we were off and running.

We arrived at the tract in question and climbed the metal lattice fence. We
thrashed around in the weeds for awhile, kicking stones, bottles and cans,
making a ruckus, but we didn't see a thing. Still, I felt sure it was the right
place.

"This bites it," said Mitch finally, ever expressive, "I gotta go home or my
mom'll have a shit fit." "Yeah, me too."

But as we climbed back up the fence, I happened to look over my shoulder. There,
deep within a scraggly bush, I could have sworn I saw two eyes, like luminous
yellow dots, staring back at me. I hesitated for moment, and they winked out.
But, of course, I was a kid, and it was probably all in my imagination.