Quiet Nights

When I was younger, I used to stay out late. Late, like 3 or 4 in the morning and I wouldn't be out at bars or whatever, but I would be out skateboarding, biking, mainly alone. I would play basketball mainly and spend hours doing drills or working on my game, really just enjoying balling out to music, loving that no one is around, and knowing I'm getting better the more I ball or skate. I'd wonder if I ever bothered people that lived across the street where I would play at night and even asked them once on a delivery. Happy to know I didn't bother at least that person. I would bike, skate or walk home and it would be about a 2 to 3 mile track back home, and even a couple of times I was locked out. Not on purpose, my mom would absentmindedly lock it or maybe sometimes she thought I was staying somewhere else. I was in great shape and that's how I liked to do it, while people were asleep. The streets are quiet and empty at 3:33 AM and a lot like they are now at 10:33 PM during this Coronavirus Pandemic. During those hours you can bike slowly, skate, dribble in the middle of the street in a busy intersection under the street lights and feel this infinite moment. Maybe a creepy sight for someone looking out their window, but my sight was chill. I get reminded of those little moments that I enjoyed so much and did pretty often back in the day, now, while I walk my dogs the hour before bedtime. No car or person in sight for as far as I can see while I cross the street with my pups at 10:30 PM in Queens. Not a common sight to see in NYC and not as infinite as it was in my memories.