He slipped behind the wheel and let it take him to a bar in the middle of chaos. The post-curtain call of the day had left his throat parched and in need of near-sober conversations as the pavement rattled the undercarriage of the car. Too many years of neglect had left it pockmarked like a grown man’s face and made the ride feel like a lousy lay.

He sneered at every hesitant brake light through the crowded party district, weaving his way through double-parked taxis and revelers ignoring red hands on the opposite sides of every street corner. The smell of lamb and cucumber sauce seeped through the air vents as he sat, waiting, next to the Mediterranean cats slopping gyros together for those willing to dish out the dough. The cab in front of him had stopped, attempting a left hand turn against the tide of oncoming traffic and idiots. Beyond that, a lawman was fitting a young girl for new silver love cuffs but without the promise of using his baton. She obliged and wore them obediently, too drunk to fight and too sober to cry, knowing neither would help her case.

The light turned green and he accelerated past the twirling red and blue denoting something amiss. Had he not been paying attention, the three passerby would’ve become one with his wheel-well, but a screech of tires and an exchange of middle fingers prevented a cluttered, bloody intersection. No words exchanged, just glares and hollow gestures as he sped to the next light, turning left out of Sodom towards the blinking red of his destination.

Soon they’d be out of sight and his thirst would be sated. An ice cube dropped from the proper height and covered in an amber that sent fire to his belly in a slow exchange of sanity for the trip to the city.

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