More old bullshit: A City at Night

[This was probably written as English homework - file date is 4th March 1999]

A City at Night

The city was different at night. Darker for a start, but not deserted...

     While wide eyed revellers made their way through the numerous pubs and clubs the city presented, policemen cleared up after revellers who were too wide eyed for their own good. Flashing lights illuminated the night, along with the neon glow of trendy night-club logos. 

     While the centre of the city was alive with excitement, the suburbs could only dream of such action. Darkness, apart from the gentle glow of street lamps, and the flicker of bathroom lights as people prepared for bed.

     Actually, one house in the urban jungle of suburbia was as alive as the city centre, as the parents of a teenager had, somewhat unwisely, elected to go out, leaving him to invite his friends around for a spot of 'overindulgence'. Loud chatter and various forms of music emanated around the street. 

     Apart from this gathering, the dwellings of the middle class remained silent, bar the humming of fridges and whirring of V.C.R.'s set to record 'special interest' films.

     In one of the many council estates there was equal inactivity. Those who were awake were either staying up to watch the aforementioned 'special interest' films, or speaking in hushed tones about various transactions, the legality of which was questionable.

     A plethora of monkeys roamed the streets at night. Nobody was quite sure why, but it was presumed they escaped from the circus. Most people thought they were merely an urban myth, but then most people don't venture out at night. A cat hissed at them as they passed. The simians faced the cat, then pursued it as it ran for its life through the dark underbelly of the city. The monkeys ripped their feline foe to pieces, consuming it's flesh and leaving only it's gnawed skeleton to prove it had ever been there. A nametag reading 'Fluffy' hung around its bony neck.

     The high rise building lay dormant, apart from the occasional flicker of a light as the cleaners moved from room to room. They walked into one office to find a man slumped at his desk in front of a computer. He had fallen asleep whilst looking for a website called 'Japanese Schoolgirl Frolics'. The cleaners prodded him with a broom, and he began to scream obscenities at them, before returning to his 'work'.

     Below this scene, scantily clad girls stood, waiting for headlights to cut through the darkness. When they did, they inspected the number plate: one of the regulars. Gemma, the youngest of this particular gathering, stepped towards the car, spoke with the driver, then opened the back door, almost catching the pleated skirt of her school uniform on it as she stepped inside the expensive looking car. The metallic paint shimmered as it sped away, bathed in the yellow light of the street lamps.

     An elderly woman stood in the 24 hour off licence looking for tea bags. She wanted the new 'pyramid' shaped ones, but they only had circular. She complained to Billy, the student behind the counter. 

     "I already told you! We don't have any pyramid shaped ones! Just get the circular ones and be done with it! What's wrong with you people!" screamed the sociology student.

     "No need to be rude" she croaked. Billy shuddered as she stroked her bearded chin. She barged through the suburban teenagers to continue her quest for pyramid shaped tea bags.

     The teenagers had run out of beer. The words "We need some beer" had prompted Will, Jenny and Tommy to brave the dark streets and go to the 'offy' for the good of the party. They pulled some two-litre bottles of cheap lager out of the fridge marked 'Chilled Beverages' and dragged them to the counter.

     "Got any I.D.?" asked Billy.

     Tommy produced his brother's Student Union card. Tommy looked remarkably like his brother. 

     "Are you John's brother then?" Billy asked, John being the drummer in Billy’s band as well as Tommy's brother.

     "Shit!" exclaimed Tommy.

     "Don't worry about it man! I fully support underage drinking! I just need to see some kind of card so I don't lose my job! See that camera?" Billy pointed to the left of the counter. "As long as some kind of card gets shown to me when a person looks too young, I'm sorted. Someone came in and got his half-fare bus pass out earlier, but the camera only sees a card."

     "Cool!" 

     Billy stuffed the lager into a bag, some notes were thrown at him, and they hauled their booty out of the shop.

     One of the monkeys ran past as they stumbled out of the shop. 

     "Monkeys!" Will shouted in a bizarre voice. The others laughed, nearly dropping their precious cargo.

     The city is an insomniac. Try as it might, it never manages to fall asleep, however hectic a day it has had. The city doesn't sleep, but it dreams...