I wrote an entire other thing this week but, as I read it back to myself this morning, I realized it was really dark, and very ungenerous of spirit. It had something to do with beagles, and with slipping out the back, thus the title. But. It was the kind of writing that brought up a lot of terrible things and offered no way out, in fact it suggested that the reader consider the possibility of these awful things happening in their own lives. And of course it can be helpful to be pragmatic about the very real possibility of awful things descending upon thee, but I don’t think that’s what I want this space to be. I think I want it to be a space of considering *all* possibilities, a little bright candle in the foggy Thursday morning inbox. So I decided to write about something that brings me true joy, something that has opened up my world considerably, even though it kind of reads like a paid endorsement. And even though I won’t get a chance to edit it.

New York has these scooters now. They’re available in select other cities, too. And when I say scooters I don’t mean the kind you stand on, the little platforms with wheels and a handlebar (I have enjoyed riding those, as well, most notably at dawn in Richmond, VA while on a greyhound bus layover). The scooters in NYC - and actually they’re only available in Brooklyn and Queens currently - are the kind you sit on, vroom vroom. Electric scooters, kind of like vespas, the kind that delivery drivers often ride around on with those winter oven mitts taped to the throttle. They have an app, and with the app you can reserve a scooter. Walk to it, hit start on the app, the lights on the scooter blink on with a happy little noise. You can retrieve a helmet from the little container in the back, and once you sit down you can zip right off, right into traffic.

A few weeks ago I was out dancing with my buddy Max until very late. The DJ went until about 4:30, and we were feeling tired and delirious and happy after a great boogie night. We hung around for a bit saying goodbye to folks, collecting our things, etc. Normally I can walk home from this spot - it’s only about twenty minutes - but I had to wait until 5am to leave. Because at 5am the scooter service turns back on (they demurely close it down from midnight to 5am, hoping to curb drunk driving). And I had driven to the club at a few minutes just before midnight, so my scooter was there waiting for me, just where I left it. When the clock struck 5 I popped open the app and reserved my scooter. I strapped on the helmet and beeped the horn at my friend as I took off down the street. This was 5am on a Sunday in deep east bushwick and there was absolutely no one around. There was no one on the sidewalks, no cars on the road, and with all the happy negative space of hours of throbbing bass drum bouncing around my brain I scooted home as fast as I could, running the lights and dancing s curves around the yellow strip in the middle of bushwick avenue. I felt like screaming at the top of my lungs, I felt like laying into the wimpy little beep horn. I felt sleek and swift and free and perilous all at once. It was completely unnecessary for me to drive back to my apartment, but it was sincerely some of the greatest 5 minutes of my life.

They can’t go on freeways or over bridges, and they only go 25 mph (the street speed limit in NYC), but if you’re going downhill at all you can get ‘em up to 30 mph. That doesn’t sound particularly fast to people used to driving on freeways, but with the exposed winter air whipping across you it feels exhilaratingly fast, dangerously so. Last night as I scooted home I could feel the unique sensation of my adam’s apple in particular getting cold - it was a prow in the wind. And truthfully the scooters are dangerous, even if they include heavy duty motorcycle helmets. They don’t require any kind of special license or training, in fact the app doesn’t even require you per se to watch their instructional video. And no one checks to make sure you’re wearing the helmet. And cars, particularly during rush hour, are occasionally extremely hostile towards people riding these. They’ll honk and cut around you, even if you’re going the speed limit.

But the danger is a part of the fun, as it often is. And the scooters afford me a freedom and a mobility that I haven't really encountered before. They’re cheap, for one thing, way cheaper than taking a cab home, and usually it’s way faster to find a scooter than it is to call a cab. It beats the subway, easy. Coming home from my practice space, it would take me 30ish minutes to get home on the train. On the scooter it takes me about 9 minutes, and it’s extremely fun. A long train ride home or, in my broker moments, an expensive cab ride home might be the factor that prevents me from doing something on a particular night. Knowing that these scooters are around has made me considerably more bold in planning and doing things. I’ve gone as far as considering purchasing my own electric scooter, thinking that I might able to extend this freedom even further.

The first time I ever rode one of these scooters I actually sat on the back. They hold two people, and there are two helmets included in the little compartment in the back. I was with my gf in a part of town that was hard to get home from, and I said offhand wow I wish I could ride one of these scooters I’ve been seeing around, it would be so convenient. She, in a moment that very accurately describes her whole deal, said why can’t you? Also, I could drive it. She’s a scooter pro, as a matter of fact, has spent some time living in Thailand and got around for a year+ on a hello kitty motorbike. So we downloaded the app, I sent them a picture of my driver’s license, and after a few minutes of fumbling with the controls and the helmets we got on the bike and zoomed off. It felt FAST. I had never ridden on anything like this, I don’t think, never on a motorcycle certainly, and that moment of zipping down Fulton Ave was so delicious. I was hooting and hollering every time we went over a pothole or through a yellow light. Things between us at that moment were still fresh, in flux, and the amount of trust it required to hang on to her as the scooter’s electric engine whined beneath us was making my head spin. But we got home, very quickly, safe and sound.

Is there something in your life that lets you feel sleek and free? Do you allow any danger in? How do you get home very quickly, safe and sound?