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A young man. He lies back on his bed, leaning against the pillows that are propped along the wall, with a movie on. He’s right next to another man who had started watching the movie with him but at some point had fallen asleep; maybe not full asleep, all the way, but partially; maybe the man (second man) who had been lulled into said state could hear it in the background: could hear the dialogue; could hear the music, the…what instruments?—could hear the emotion in the voices projected through the speakers.

The young man feels safe here. He’s at ease. Earlier he had been rewinding the movie at parts, at moments he wanted to see again, but now, not. He’s letting it flow now. It passes by like the Pharcyde song.

The movie: it’s his favorite one to come out lately. It’s the Joker movie with Joaquin Phoenix in the lead. He likes it. He likes the mood. He likes the lighting. He likes the sound. He likes the story. He likes the passion. He goes for it. He likes the emotion. He likes the ambition. He goes for it. He’s at a part which, it doesn’t matter which part because all of them are superb to him and that part goes into the next part and that part goes into the next and there are only two people in the room and it’s dark and he wonders if his partner can hear it now, right now, right at the next moment, moment to moment to moment part to part to heart.

The art of it. When did he fall asleep? the man questions. Dialogue. Interactions. Connections between characters.

And how? How do you fall asleep during this? he thinks, only to seconds later bring his focus back to the film as if it had called out for his attention, as if it were his mother and he were five.

Joaquin Phoenix gets nominated for awards. Joaquin Phoenix wins awards. People, a sea of people much older than single digits wearing beautiful clothes and smiling and nodding appreciatively. They applaud, and it gets studied. Years pass, and it’s studied.

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TAYLOR NAPOLSKY has a novel out with Alien Buddha Press. Their work has appeared in MORIA, A Bad Penny Review, and other journals. Visit them online at taylornapolsky.com.

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