New York, Noon, Broken Bicycle

Paul was riding his bike through New York City. He looked up at the skyscrapers in wonderment. Breathed in the dirty air as though it were refreshing. Heard the loud cars scream out the lives that people live. But Paul couldn’t remain relaxed for too long. He had to get to the photo shoot on time, so he was pedaling as fast as he could. It was 11:47, barely enough time to get to a noon photo shoot. It would be his first day on the set, the first opportunity in months for him to make some money to support his career in fashion design. Modeling had never been an interest to Paul, he just needed to make ends meet.

Paul reached the end of the block. The tires suddenly completely shredded. In his nervous distraction, Paul ran over what appeared to be a broken six pack of beer bottles. He couldn’t ride anywhere. It was a random object to find at the corner of a sidewalk. But then again it was the city, a place where expected actions are not the norm. Paul felt a sudden burst of emotion that he had never felt before and remained still. His emotion was a realization that a lack of norms is what made the city appealing in the first place. Taking the time to go to this photo shoot was simply to live up to a standard of “needing” money, to have money at any cost, even to sacrifice what really makes one happy. Spending anything in order to get money? It made no sense.

Paul felt a mixture of frustration, anger and confusion that he had not realized this before. He could have been spending his time making more of his super-sensational fashion designs that he loved. Paul knew he had to stop avoiding what he really cared about. So in what could only be described as impulsive enlightenment, he threw his bike into the middle of the street. He didn’t need to go anywhere or do anything that wasn’t important. All he had to do, he thought, was design; no, to make art! There was a line of sunglasses that needed finishing. The line Paul felt in all his confidence would change his life. Particularly the pair that started out as nothing more than jagged edges on the rims. He had finally realized that the only way he could truly make ends meet was to stop living according to some norm he knew that he disagreed with, that he knew was wrong. Art first, money secondary. Live as though the city were his heart.