Between 1524 and 1624, various European powers scouted the Muhheakantuck River in the land of the Lenape people. First came a Florentine-Italian in the service of the French, then a Portuguese in service of the Spanish, then an Englishman in service of the Dutch. All of these captains claimed the bay at this river’s mouth, but the Dutch occupied it and fortified it. They called the river Hudson. 15,000 Lenape people lived at the mouth of that river, where they farmed and caught shellfish. The Dutch settled on Manaháhtaan Island, where they built a wall to defend their colony. After demonstrating their ability to hold the island by force, they bought it from its original occupants. In 1664, the British Empire captured it.

  Blake went to visit his friend Mohammed, who lived in New Jersey with his family. Blake and Mohammed sat in the upstairs den, a sort of renovated attic and game room, and played Morrowind. They smoked Indica and listened to jazz and dub records. Mohammed’s brother, Dayyaan, played Warframe while Blake and Mohammed played Morrowind. Mohammed was a poet who’d settled into teaching: a wiry, fire-eyed vagabond, defiant and mercurial, who’d become soft and kindly. His brother was quiet and reasonable, managing the family business. Their father was Pakistani and their mother was Italian.

  In Morrowind, one plays the role of the Nerevarine, the reincarnation of an ancient hero, Nerevar. The Cyrodilic Empire is colonizing Vvardenfell, the land of the Dunmer people. The Empire releases onto this island a prisoner, the player, who seems to be the prophesied hero. The Nerevarine must oppose Dagoth Ur, a false god spreading ash and blight from a Dwemer citadel in an active volcano. Neophyte followers of Dagoth Ur are called Sleepers, and they wander Vvardenfell like mad beggars, saying, “Take heed, out-lander. The day of reckoning is at hand. Take what you can, and leave our place, for when Lord Dagoth comes, this will be no place for you.” Blake and Mohammed never finished the game, so they never learned its moral.

  Blake had a sky-blue compact sedan with four-wheel drive, which he had inherited from his father. They called her Lil Ol Blue. She had a cassette player and Blake had a copy of “Broken Arrow” by Neil Young. In the first song, “Big Time,” Neil sang:

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  Gonna leave the pain behind.

  Gonna leave the fools in line.

  Gonna take the magic potion.

  Gettin' in an old black car.

  Gonna take a ride so far...

  To the land of suntan lotion.

  Gonna take it state by state.

  Til I hit the golden gate...

  Get my feet wet in the ocean.

  I'm still living the dream we had.

  For me it's not over.

  But they didn’t take Blake’s car into New York. They walked to a nearby shopping mall and caught the bus. Blake had an old camcorder and he filmed Mohammed trying to sleep. He filmed miles of New England Federal, brick walls and white pillars, blue shutters and bunting, Greek Revival retirement homes as gray storm clouds overcame them, driving neon rain onto the windows of the bus.

  They took the subway to a jazz club called The Fat Cat and drank red wine. They went to another jazz club and drank more wine. Then they found a bar and drank jaegerbombs. They slept in a parking garage. In the morning, they bought egg sandwiches and coffee. This was spring, cold and wet. Gray skies, billowing rhythmically, and a taste of exhaust in the back of the throat. A constant blur of indifferent, anonymous gray coats and glamorous women.

  From Mohammed’s house, they took a black SUV into the woods with Mohammed’s brother. They were late, still driving at night. From across a dark valley shone a blue-white neon cross. They camped in cold wind, sheltered by a depression, beset by streams of rainwater. Blake’s back was still weak. He did stretches in the morning, then they hiked a few miles. They smoked weed on an Appalachian pinnacle.

  When they got back to Mohammed’s house and showered, they holed up in the attic with the bong and Morrowind, listening to jazz on vinyl. Mohammed and his brother agreed to buy plane tickets and meet Blake in Denver in ten days. Blake agreed to travel west alone. Looking to the horizon, his heart filled with excitement, like the terror of the open sky.