The march came together on a Saturday afternoon in September when Azure, Emily, and Devon were sitting on the old orange love seat under the porch in Devon’s step-father’s backyard. The day was going to peak at one hundred one degrees but they did not know this when they were sitting on the old orange love seat at five in the afternoon passing a joint amongst each other and eating Lucky Charms straight out of the box. They were not particularly keen to discussion before smoking so when Emily and Azure arrived earlier that afternoon they mumbled mild greetings and waited for Devon’s mother to drive to work so they could blaze and hang out. Devon’s mother always re-stocked the chips and cereals and rarely asked Devon how she could eat so much in the course of a week. Devon’s step-father would usually be working in his home office but was away on business for several weeks in Texas where he was at a conference discussing the future of calculators.
Emily stood up and walked to the edge of the porch when the business of getting high and eating was concluded so that she could lean against the corner post and look out through the porch and into the house. She lifted her black sneaker and placed it against the post as she looked at the other two girls.
“So, what’s it?” she asked.
Devon sat cross-legged on the love seat and rubbed her bleary eyes to help her focus on Emily whose bottle curves and long, dark hair gave her the air of a silhouette on a trucker’s mud flaps. Devon was far less rounded but was happy to retain boyish proportions and her signature short bob if it meant she could avoid attentions.
She turned back to the box in her lap and closed it up. “Well, I dunno. Walk to Cucineria?”
“No,” said Azure. “That place is balls.”
Emily chuckled and looked at the house. “Look at where we live. Everything here is balls. Desert and dry hills and not a single interesting person—present company possibly included—within twenty miles. God, what a hole. Even this place is about as interesting as watching grass grow.” She gestured toward the love seat and the rest of the house. “And we don’t even have grass around here.”
“Well, fuck you, Em” Devon threw the box of Lucky Charms at Emily who managed to grip the top flap before it hit her.
“Jeez, don’t get so upset. I’m just saying, there’s nothing to do here besides the sitting or watching TV inside.”
“Too hot inside for that,” said Azure.
“Right, so here we are. Getting high and sitting around doing nothing.”
“If you hate it here so much why don’t we go to your place?” said Devon.
“Because my mom is there all day, and Azure’s dad doesn’t have a job so he’s around all day doing who knows what, and here we are. We could leave, if you like?”
Devon shook her head and stretched out, placing her head on Azure’s shoulder and braiding a handful of her shoulder-length blonde hair. She began chuckling and looked toward Emily.
“Don’t be a bitch. I’m just saying if this is the only place you can hang out then don’t complain.”
“Whatever.”
Emily walked to the arm of the love seat and picked up the joint and lighter to take another hit while Azure rested her head back against the wall of the garage and Devon remained stretched out with her head against Azure’s arm. They sat and listened to the insects out in the brush behind the house and the faint hiss of Emily inhaling. She returned the lighter and joint to the ash tray on the couch arm and began pacing along the along the edge of the porch farthest from the love seat.
“You ever seen a sunset?” asked Devon.
Emily stopped her pacing and looked toward the hill that started at the base of the property.
“We live in the desert. No clouds ever. What the fuck do you think?”
“I don’t mean the sun coming down over the hills. I mean, like, asunset. I want to see a sunset. You know I’ve lived here since the end of elementary school and I’ve never seen a sunset? Like, one of those movie sunsets where the sun burns up the sky and sets down behind a flat horizon.”
“So what the fuck, you want us moving the hills?”
“Yea, Em. I want you to move the hills.”
Emily looked at Devon and paused.
“This shit isn’t that good. Way to go with the sarcasm.”
“I mean it, though. I want to see one. We should go on a hike or something so we can see a sunset that isn’t behind some mound shaped like a pile of crap.”
Azure grinned and began laughing which caused Devon to also start laughing. The pair laughed for about a minute while Emily smugly looked on and smiled though she did not laugh. She retained her composure and returned to her post.
“Like a big pile of dog crap, you know?” said Devon. “Just like it!”
When the laughter died Azure rubbed her eyes and looked back at Emily. “It’s definitely gonna be hot today.” She then stood and looked out at the hill behind the house. “The land over by the highway is flat. It’s on the other side of these hills, right Dev?”
“Yea, yea. We could probably see a good sunset if we hike up there.”
“What? You heard Azure,” said Emily. “It’s too hot to do anything outside, especially hiking.”
“Not hiking hiking. We’ll just walk up and watch the sun set over the highway or whatever.”
“And?” asked Emily.
“And what?”
“And we just walk all the way up the hill and watch a sun set and then walk all the way back down here to where we started?”
“Pretty much.”
“That’s, like, a whole two or three hours of being not only bored but also sweaty, dusty, and tired. Whoop dee fucking doo.”
“Got anything better?”
Emily smacked her lips and walked toward the house. “I’m going to get some water. Come up with something that’s actually, I don’t know, fun, and maybe I’ll hang out.”
Devon rolled her eyes and turned to Azure. “Is your dad at your house today? Maybe we can watch movies at your place.”
Azure shook her head. “He’s there. He hasn’t gone anywhere for months. Mom keeps saying that if he doesn’t start looking for work nearby he’ll have to move us to a new city.”
“Really?”
Azure nodded.
“That’s just… I mean, really lame.”
“I know.”
Azure glanced at Devon and smiled reassuringly, then stood and looked at the love seat, eyeing it from different angles. She moved the hair out of her face and tied back the loose strands with a scrunchie that she produced from the pocket of her shorts.
“We’ll take the couch,” said Azure.
“What?”
Azure went to the side of the love seat that Devon was on and picked it up with little effort. “See? It hardly weighs much. It’s probably plastic or something.”
“Cheap, in other words.”
Azure smiled and picked up the side of the love seat again as high as she could, then dropped it.
“Easy to carry.”
“Ouch. Fuck you, even.” Devon then stood and picked up the other end of the love seat to test its weight. It took less effort than she thought it would and she dropped it hard when the weight of it came down on her hands.
“No wonder mom wanted this piece of shit out here.” She glanced at the hill behind the property and then back at Azure.
“You think we can?”
“Sure.”
“It’s gonna suck having to bring it back down.”
“Said yourself it’s a piece of shit. I don’t think anyone will mind if we leave it up there.”
“Maybe.”
Emily appeared then with a glass of lemonade that Devon’s mother had left in the refrigerator. She saw Azure and Devon standing on either end of the couch and frowned.
“What?”
Azure walked over to her and took the glass from her hand. She took several sips and then returned the glass to Emily before heading toward the house.
“Well, what the fuck? You going to tell me what you two were doing?”
“We’re hiking. We’ll need a thermos or something for the lemonade.” She paused then and said, “Dev?”
“In the bottom-left cabinet.”
Emily continued toward the porch as Azure walked away and looked at Devon.
“We’re also taking the couch,” said Devon.
Emily furrowed her brows then simply closed her eyes and lifted the glass of lemonade to her head.
“Christ, I need new friends.”
“You wanted something to do.”
“Whatever.”
Azure returned with two thermoses, one full of water and one full of lemonade. She tucked them into the spaces behind the seat cushions and then proceeded to one end of the love seat while Devon stood at the other end. Devon placed the remainder of the joint and the lighter in the Altoids tin where she kept the papers and weed she’d purchased from her friend Russell and together they lifted the love seat and began moving to the back of the property where the brush became thicker and the land began to rise upward along the hill’s incline. They paused when they were just outside the porch to look at Emily, who had taken her place against the corner post.
“You coming, Em?” asked Devon.
“It’s a fucking love seat.”
“What?”
Devon placed her glass on the window sill of the garage and walked toward the other two girls.
“This isn’t a couch, it’s a love seat. So how’re three people supposed to lift this? It only has two ends.”
“We’ll take turns,” said Azure.
Emily traced the walk up the hill with her eyes and said, “Fine.”
They began the walk toward the hill that happened to be next to the property owned by Devon’s step-father. It was a dry, dusty mound similar to the many around it, all of which surrounded the Western edge of the town in the middle of the northern Arizona desert. Azure and Devon did not know the area, but Emily, who was born and raised in and around Flagstaff, knew it well. She had never been close to the friends she made before Azure and Devon because she hated the desert and the buildings and the people who liked that place. She was sure they did not really like to be there but pretended they did, and even then they were still rude and angry all the time. It was a cage with no bars or walls to speak of. Emily saw these things as she walked alongside Azure and Devon, who were doing fairly well with the love seat and had not yet broken a sweat. She asked them if they wanted her to lift the middle or something.
Devon shook her head and licked her lips. “Nah. This is cake.”
Azure concurred, and they continued walking. After ten minutes the way became steeper and more shrubs appeared along the ground which scraped at Azure’s exposed legs. They also began to sweat. The droplets rolled down the sides of their faces and both girls agreed to stop for a moment to catch their breath and get a drink.
“Time to switch,” said Azure.
“Already?” said Emily, and the other two girls nodded. Emily frowned and looked first at Azure, then Devon.
“Who gets to walk?”
“Dev,” said Azure.
Devon smiled and stepped aside so that Emily could lift the lower end of the love seat. She, like the others, found it lighter than anticipated, and she lifted it as high as she could to test her strength. She looked at Devon who nodded in agreement, and they continued up the hill.
“Look at Ms. She-Hulk over here. You could probably drag this thing all the way up by yourself, huh?”
“Maybe,” said Azure, and she half-heartedly grinned. “If I did, though, what would you be doing?”
“I don’t know. Clearing the path, I guess. Making sure we’re not surprised by a snake or something. Clear the shrubs.”
“Look at Ms. Livingstone over here.”
“Who?”
“Nobody.”
They remained silent again for a time, listening to the dirt beneath their soles crunch and grind, and sometimes crumble away down the hill. Emily felt uneasy and decided to break the silence.
“You know, we’re pretty pathetic.”
“How… so,” said Azure, between deep breaths.
“If we were smart we’d have boyfriends for stuff like this.”
“Not worth it,” said Devon, and they all laughed, loudly and without restraint.
Devon then asked, “How’s Nassim been?” toward Emily. “I haven’t seen him since he graduated.”
Emily’s face became serious, nearly fearsome. “Fuck him,” she said. “I don’t give a shit about him.”
“Why?”
Emily remained quiet except for a slight groan as she stepped over a small outcropping and was forced to lift the love seat above it.
“He’s a liar,” said Azure.
Devon nodded. “So? All boys are liars.”
“Not Nassim,” said Emily. “He’s nineteen. He’s ‘a real man now’.”
“Men are just old boys,” said Azure.
They all nodded and stopped talking about Nassim. Devon looked on Azure worryingly and was prepared to step in to take her place when the ground began to even out. They stopped to drink and mop the sweat from their foreheads and brows. Azure looked up toward the flat peak and said she could manage all the way to the top as long as she was guaranteed a seat cushion. Emily had no problem with the arrangement and Devon grudgingly agreed before they continued for another eight minutes where they finally reached the highest point. They set the love seat down and Azure immediately dug out the water thermos and drank from it, while Devon and Emily eyed the remaining seat.
“All you,” said Devon, and Emily happily took the place beside Azure. They leaned against each other and drank from the thermos until it was emptied while Devon took out the Altoids can and offered it to both Azure and Emily, who waved it away. She set the tin down on the dirt and then sprawled out across the back of the love seat, her face beside Azure’s where she could smell the dust and sweat from the long march and her feet dangling off the edge near Emily.
“You won’t see any sunset from there,” said Azure.
“We have some time, don’t we?”
Azure looked at the low sun in the Western horizon and said, “I suppose.”
They sat quietly for a moment, and looked toward the sun though never directly at it. The highway stretched from South-to-North, left-to-right, before them, along with the brown mountains and hills that made up that part of the country, their world. The late September sun would soon set down below the crags of the horizon.
“Do you really think men are just old boys?” asked Emily.
“Of course,” said Azure.
Emily leaned back and crossed her legs as they lay stretched out before her.
“So I guess women are just old girls?”
Azure nodded and wiped the back of her hand across her forehead.
“Can’t be anything else.”