In the Honda Triangle Phil can remember her fingers. Like little corn dogs leaving streaks of grease on his receipt. Jessica, he says her name under his paint mask. He’s not ready to paint. Triangle Phil isn’t sure this can even be done, he may be too far gone. Moto drives with one hand at 6 and one hand on his crotch, staring forward, probably thinking the same thing.

They pull up in the ruins of a textile mill. They run scenarios here. They lay down the first color, the second color, the third color. Every paint night starts in this way, under the nude cosmos surrounded by rust and cinderblock. Triangle Phil does his usual tag: a right triangle with the sides labeled a, b and c. The triangle is no good, there’s a wobble on the y-axis and the a looks like a fucked up q.

“Don’t let her get to you man,” Moto says. “Women are like spinning plates. Women are like vapor trails. Women are biblically riblike. Women don’t understand Iron Maiden. Women are a complex series of tubes and apertures. Women can only see you if you move. And there will always be another woman.” Moto says: “just do the triangles.” And Triangle Phil pushes Jessica from his mind and does the triangles. Like he’s always done the triangles (perfectly).

They park downtown near the site of the first holy surface. On the way Triangle Phil destroys private property with trigonometry. Perfect black lines, the theorem in his heart and adrenal purpose flooding from his endocrine system. They climb up between buildings, on fire escapes. Moto edges out on a ledge and signs “Ann Taylor Loft” on the windward face of Ann Taylor Loft. He spray paints “Low Interest Loans” on the windows of Bank of America. He spray paints “the front door of Arby’s” on the front door of Arby’s. Moto calls this his feedback loop and it thrills him every time.

Behind the Cineplex they find the skate park. The first holy site is D Sec’s Folly, a massive half-pipe where D Sec fucked up his varial kickflip so bad it killed him. The whole place is haunted as shit (rumor goes) and supposedly, if a vandal is on a worthy quest, then D Sec will give him the thumbs up from beyond the grave.