“That I did.”
“And for Candle-Fly too?”
“I made most of those flyers.”
“Why?”
Alf took another drink and tilted his head from side to side.
“Because the best things don’t give a shit about advertising. It’s a favor. Or a hobby. Or, hell, I don’t know, man. You gotta do something, right? You ever worked at a gas station?”
“Do you actually work at that gas station?”
“Not on paper, but yeah.”
Valentina moved toward the barricade and Green watched her go.
“What made you think this place was worth visiting? It’s dangerous.”
“Have you seen it?”
“We came here a few days ago. I told you that.”
“Nah, man, like I said, not during the day. Go look.”
Alf rose and set his beer on the log, spilling it immediately. Foam cascaded. He turned and went to the barricade. Green followed.
“See? Hang on. You’re too damn tall, bro. Bend down.”
Alf was swaying on his feet, standing next to Valentina. The Hole in Nothing was a patch of dark between the crossed trees. There was nothing to see.
Green walked over and took a knee. He leaned over the barricade and put his cheek on the rough bark of the top branch. Then he saw.
The weather and the firelight made the sky above him a drab, dim nothing. The sky viewed through the hole was different. There, in the crook where the two leaning trees met, a wedge of sky was visible over the horizon. It was like a picture of deep space, black marbled with veins of blue and violet. The stars were vivid, dusted across the darkness like spilled crystals.
Valentina hunched down as well, staring up at the pie slice of cosmos.
“Lovely,” she said.
Green looked back to Alf.
He was smiling, his arms spread wide.
“See? Kinda seems like a stupid flyer is the least I can do, don’t it?”
“I…see your point.”
Alf turned his face up to the sky.
“Quelle surprise. He sees my point. And if you haven’t figured it out yet, bro, those flyers are mostly for me. Like, reminders. Shit, I’m not supposed to be there. The flyers ain’t supposed to be there. The room with that rack ain’t supposed to be there.”
Alf broke off in drunken laughter.
“The damn moths ain’t supposed to be there.”
He spun around in slow circles, eyes on the treetops, turning like a carousel. A branch caught his foot and he spilled onto the ground, laughing as he fell. He stood and walked back to the fire, picking leaves from his hair.
Green looked back to the vivid sky beyond the crossed pines.
