Beck © Harold Sakuishi
Just Another Sleepless Summer Night
It was just another summer night, like any other summer night I encountered in this fast moving world. The air was hot and sticky to the point of it bumping up the temperature a good ten to fifteen degrees, and despite the fact that it was the dead of night, summer heat waves seem to persist into the late hours. Nothing like a good dose of humidity to keep you awake, right?
The others were asleep in their own little corners of our run down van, exhaustion drowning out their sensitivity to the summertime blues. Koyuki, Saku and Chiba were sprawled out in the backseats with their mouths hanging wide open like panting dogs in an array of arms overlapping legs flung over chests. I wished I could be sleeping like that because God knows I needed it. I cast a sideways glance to my left to see Ryusuke, who had his arms firmly crossed and a sort of scowl knitted onto his lips. An unpleasant dream, maybe? At least he was taking it well.
I advert my eyes to outside the window where cars zoom by and large trucks flash before my eyes with an audible 'swoosh' before vanishing into the nightscape. Leaning over the rolled down windows, I felt a strange sense of peace floating about. I sigh softly as I let my mind wander and pick at my memory for itself and weave away at my fabrications. I wondered what life would be like is I was never part of this band, if I never met these people, if I never picked up a bass… there were too many 'if's, and not enough 'then's to be paired up with them.
"…Think too much," I heard myself mutter. It was odd. I sounded foreign in my own ears. It had happened before though, where I was consciously talking but my mind seemed to be shut down. It was a lack of sleep, I decided, and thought nothing more of it. Someone had once told me that the more you think, the thicker your hair gets and the quicker they turn white. I guess I was a thinker then, if you didn't count the fact that my hair was white for unnatural causes.
With nothing to divert my attention from the heat, I again noted how horribly hot it was. It probably wasn't as bad as I thought it was, but the brain has ways to make you believe in lies. I considered looking for something to fan myself with, but that was quickly dismissed as there was no way I could go to sleep and working a makeshift fan at the same time. My eyes then caught the air conditioning.
"I tried it. Damn thing doesn't work."
I glance up from my hand, which was on the AC button, to Ryusuke. His scowl was deeper than before and I realized that he was just as tormented by the summer night as I was. The sound of constant traffic you got use to, but the heat was something that you couldn't adjust that easily to.
"You sure?" I asked.
"Damn sure, and if you aren't sleeping, start driving so we can get it fixed once we reach the city."
I failed to point out that our budget and schedule hardly allowed us any such thing, but I nonetheless obliged to his will and started up the engine. It gave a low roar as it sprung to life, and I eased my foot into the gas pedal as my hands gripped the rough steering wheel. Maybe the wind would provide us some kind of relief.
"Damn… Ryusuke, I think we have a flat tire."
Yeah, just another sleepless summer night.