City Boy

We walked home in the moonlight, past the tired men sleeping in doorways and snake people slithering in the shadows, whispering, ‘Loose joints, loose joints, three for a deuce,’ and when Stevie clutched my hand I’d tell him not to be afraid, they wouldn’t hurt us and we were almost home, and he kept his small, mittened hand in mine even after we’d crossed First Avenue, right up until we walked through the apartment door.

From ‘City Boy’ by Judy Chicurel in Granta 118: Exit Strategies. You can now buy the issue or subscribe and receive four issues a year of the best new writing.

Photo by Mónica Naranjo.

You can also hear Judy Chicurel at the following events:

The New York Launch
7 February, 7 p.m., BookCourt, 163 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Granta editor John Freeman launches the new issue with Granta 118 contributors Judy Chicurel, Vanessa Manko, Claire Messud and Susan Minot.

Thirty Girls, The Interrogation and City Boy
9 February, 7 p.m., 192 BOOKS, 192 10th Avenue, New York, NY 10011

Judy Chicurel, Vanessa Manko and Susan Minot explore the consequences of things beyond our control through readings from Granta 118 and conversation with Granta assistant editor Patrick Ryan.