Asleep

by Banana Yoshimoto

  “Yes, I could see it. It was so small it was kind of cute, wasn't it? Like a doily or something,” I said.

  The little clusters of light that sprayed up suddenly into the clear night sky seemed to be so far off you could hardly believe they were fireworks.

  “It's true. They look like miniature fireworks.” My boyfriend was still looking up at the sky as he replied. One after the other the fireworks streamed into the night, cheers rose from the crowds, and then a moment later a giant boom would reel by overhead. People were still flowing noisily on in the direction of the riverbank, and the crowds were growing thicker, they kept moving on past us, around us . . . but he and I just kept on standing where we were, gazing up into the night sky. We felt a strange fondness for the tiny bursts of fire that we glimpsed from time to time off to the side of the skyscraper, and we kept our arms locked tightly together as we stood there, fantastically excited, waiting for the next round of fireworks to explode.