Moondance

Damon Wyatt and his friend James stood on the corner of Butt St. and Kisser St. It was late, around 2 AM. The two looked down each of the streets to make sure the coast was clear. Damon furrowed his brow, sighed deep and then crossed his arms. This had been their target for about a month now. The signs were too good to pass up. They had to have them. More trophies for the showroom.

"So, are we going to do it or what?" James asked impatiently. "I want to just get this over with."

Damon shrugged a little, "Yeah, let's do it. Pass me my saw, you look out for cop cars."

"Your saw?" James asked, sort of shocked.

"Yeah, the saw. This is too perfect a target to simply remove the signs. They have to intersect for the joke to be funny."

James shook his head and unzipped the duffle bag that they used to tote their tools. He pulled out a powerful, but lightweight battery-operated reciprocating saw. "Here" He handed it to Damon.

"Does it have the metal cutting blade?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, go check look for cops."

James nodded and ran off, leaving Damon to get to work. The saw quietly buzzed to life, and he began to cut. Thankfully the city council was cheap, and opted for the flimsy aluminum posts to put their street signs on, so cutting was a breeze. Minimal sparks, minimal noise. Everything was going smoothly. Damon was down to the last inch of bar when the police sirens filled his ears. S**t.

James burst around the corner, barrelling closer. "Oh man, they're onto us. We gotta go! Now!"

Damon kept cutting. The sirens grew closer. He could see the red and blue flashing lights now. "Almost done."

"Now, man. Now"

Suddenly, he heard the tinny thud of the sign post hitting the ground. "Got it, let's go." Together, they hefted up the awkward metal street sign, and ran for the alley. Behind them, two cops cars came to a squealing stop on the corner of the streets formally identified as Butt and Kisser. The two couldn't help but giggle like children, between trying to catch their breaths.

They reached a fire escape on the side of an old brick building and started the awkward ascent up the ladder and creaky iron stairs. They somehow managed to get the sign--the sputnik-like criss-cross of metal and aluminum, up the fire escape and onto the roof of the building. "We made it!" James exclaimed before he doubled over, huffing for breath. "We're not out of the woods yet, buddy." Damon shot back. "Look."

They could see two cops, now on foot, making their way down toward the alleyway. It was only a matter of time before they got up to their level. "Well, what do we do now?" James asked.

"Umm," Damon looked around for an answer, "come with me."

The two darted across the rooftop, until they reached the edge opposite to where they had climbed. Four storeys below them was another alley. No safe way down from where they stood. "Okay," said Damon, "if we want to get out of this without wearing handcuffs, we gotta get rid of this thing and come back for it later."

James nodded in agreement. This wasn't the first time they had stolen something of this size, so they knew there were ways to travel light, but still reap the spoils of their heist. "We gotta throw it up on the building there. The one opposite this alley. Then we find a way down. Or we get caught. Either way, we protect the sign."

Getting an idea, Damon grabbed a rope from inside the tool bag and tied it to the end of the sign. "Okay, stand back." He said to James as he began to spin around with the rope firmly gripped in his hands. He picked up speed, and the sign lifted from the ground, twirling along with him. He went faster now. James could barely see the sign anymore as it spun in the dark with his friend.

Damon let go, and the sign became airborne . It flew higher than either of them could have expected. They could hear it land with a muffled thud on the roof of the opposite building. It worked. It actually worked. The two shared a quick high five to celebrate.

It was time to run. James saw a rain gutter that ran down the side of the building they were standing on, and decided to take his chances by scaling down it. Damon stood and waited for him to put some distance between them before following him down.

As James shimmied further downward, Damon's attention was drawn to a glowing , yellowish neon sign across the street. It was the Sleepwell Hotel. He was familiar with it. But most notably, he was familiar with its sign. Its glorious sign. It had been his main target for as long as he had been doing this. He just had no idea how he could get something so huge, from up there, into his showroom, without getting caught. One day, he thought to himself.

The sign itself was of fairly simple design. It was almost Art Deco, but not quite. It read the hotel's name in big, bold lettering, followed by a massive illuminated crescent moon. The moon was what he really wanted, the rest wasn't important.

"Psst!" James tried to get Damon's attention. Damon snapped out of it and tossed the duffle bag down to him. James caught it, almost dropping it, but recovered, giving a thumbs up to confirm. Damon shook his head and began his shimmying descent down the gutter pipe.

"We'll come back tomorrow for it." Damon said to James once he reached ground level. "Lets go!" The two sprinted off into the night, scott free.

***

Later on, back at the showroom, (which was actually their basement hangout at James' parent's house) the two teenagers sat on the floor in sleeping bags in front of the television. A bowl of forgotten popcorn sat overturned nearby. There was a half-eaten pizza getting cold it its box. The boys were watching a movie and slupring on sodas. Their way of celebrating another getaway.

"I just hope the signs are there tomorrow, Damon. That was a close one."

"Yeah," Damon burped, "we almost got nabbed. Our work will be for nothing if the signs aren't there tomorrow. But you know, I guess I don't really care. We have lots of cool stuff down here, anyway."

"But, man. That street sign was perrrfect. The corner of Butt and Kisser? That's gold." 



"Meh, I'm setting my sights higher these days." Damon said with a shrug.

"Oh no, not the hotel sign again. We are not getting that moon, Damon!"

"Oh, yes we are! We just need to devise a plan. One day, mark my words."

James decided he was going to sleep, and turned off the television. He rolled over and closed his eyes. "Goodnight Damon," He said, yawning.

"Goodnight, James." Damon too laid down his head and closed his eyes. When he did, he imagined the giant crescent laying beside him, glowing in the night. One day he knew he would have it. It was just too perfect.

Author's Note

This is another concept art writing prompt entry.

Reviews

[Spoon]

Hehehe, stealing street signs. I remember those days. Although my 'ungettable target' was "Cat Jump Road".

I would change a couple of things, like starting each person's dialogue on a new line, but content-wise it was a clever story.

You say you didn't do much characterization, but there is clearly a leader and a follower here. Sometimes, less is more. In this case, just enough!

I enjoyed it!

[Butterfly_Kid]

Hey, thank you for the nice words. I haven't been on WC for a few weeks now, so coming back and seeing this story with fresh eyes makes me wonder why I chose to put each line of dialogue in its own paragraph. Its usually something I try to avoid. Thanks for the observations. I'll be uploading a few more short stories soon

[Wolven]

I'm gonna shoot straight and honest with ya! This was hilarious. The concept of people stealing signs like that is just brilliant, and I love the interactions between James and Damon. Nice naming of the streets too. Totally coincidental, right?
Very well written too i might add, and i feel like it has so much potential. You could literally turn it into a book if you wanted to, like.
Great stuff, and I can't wait to read some more of your material.

[Butterfly_Kid]

Thank you very much!

[roarke]

you sure the moon cheese isn't gonna go bad overnight?

So yer boy's just ain't content with taggin' train cars, they gotta steal signs....

great little romp, lots of fun, give us more on the characters and their interactions, to define them.

[Butterfly_Kid]

I was a bit more focused on getting from point A to point B with this one. Point B being the image of him sleeping with the moon. It was admittedly a rushed story, and not a lot of characterization was done. I agree. Thanks for the critique!

[Julie Wolfe]

I love how damon was with the one hotel sign. Even though it would be pretty close to impossible i love how he doesnt waver and how that is his goal. I love this story and the charectors in it :)

[BeautifullyxBrokenx]

i like this story! it flows together well and the characters are well thought out. Very well done :)