Juli Idleman

Scraps Juli Idleman

Imagine walking through a crowded airport and runninghead-on into your past. It's been so long since the last time you saw it, thatat first you don't even recognize it. Imagine sitting down with your past andbuying it a drink. You study it across the table, attempting to re-familiarizeyourself with its appearance and its sounds, with the very idea of itsexistence. Imagine sitting there while your past asks you questions aboutevents and feelings you haven't permitted yourself to consider in years. It remindsyou of those moments that destroyed you and of those moments that made you,showing you that the two are the same. That's where Nikki finds herself after running intoJonathan, a man she once lived on the streets with when they were bothchildren. He asks her to recount for him a hot summer, twenty-two yearsearlier, when they lived under a bridge with five other people. Grudgingly,after years of pretending that it never happened, Nikki finds herself tellingJonathan about their time together. As she talks, she brings to life the peoplethey knew, the experiences they had and what it was that finally drove themaway.