The city feels a bit quieter, less busy than it usually is. The lights are still on because the lights are always on; they never turn off. But still, the noise, the loud shoutings of angry taxi drivers and the crying of toddlers wanting lollipops, is gone. It's just couples walking slowly down the cracked sidewalk, arms, hands, steps linked, as if they're siamese twins. In a way, this is worse than the loud noise. You never really liked love; it hasn't done a thing for you, so why should you go out seeking for it?

You've been sitting on this bench for a while now. A few hours ago, you were sore, but now you're fine. You've become comfortably numb, blocking out your surroundings. You sit and stare at the shop in front of you, the sign that says 'CLOSED'. You know it's not true, that the shop isn't closed. You know that it's open, that people who walk through that red door are having the time of their lives.

But you don't want to go in just yet. You want to think. You want to think about the city, about the lights that never burn out, and the pack of mice running through the walls of your apartment that you really need to drive out, even if they do keep you company when the only people you can talk to are the characters on old black and white movies.

"William?" the red door opens, Ollie's face appears, one eyebrow arched. "What're you doin' out here?"

"J-just th-thinking," you mumble, staring down at your shoes that you really need to polish or wash or something, otherwise you'll have to get a new pair.

"Okay, well, come on in," Ollie says, holding the door wide open. "Paradise opens early on the weekends, you know that." Yes, you do know that. But what if you don't want paradise? What if you want to go back to your apartment and set out bowls of milk for mice like you do every night, smiling as their claws click click click on the moldy tiles? What if you want to go back and watch old John Wayne movies on your TV that was new only twelve years ago, a bowl of popcorn and a Hershey's chocolate bar for dinner?

No. Paradise opens early on the weekends. Take the chance, roll the dice, and see which paradise you get this time. The mice can wait.

And so you go in, you take the chance, because hey, paradise only opens early on the weekends.