New York, New York
Saturday, January 8, 2005
There were tales of New Year’s Eve itself. Carrie-Bri had told all – about the enormous crowds and the drunks…
“Yeah, the police kept yelling at the crowds, ‘Stop pushing! Stop pushing!’ I mean, it was tighter than a mosh pit down there, and everyone kept running into each other, so the whole crowd was going back and forth. People could have really gotten hurt.”
And then there was the tale of the dirty Mexicans and the dude who kept trying to push past her and Elizabeth.
“This guy would not stop pushing against us. Elizabeth was holding my hand because she thought we were going to get separated, everyone was pushing so hard. And this idiot kept trying to break past. He was starting to hurt her. So finally she told me to let him through, and I said, ‘No way. He’s not getting past.’ So what do I do? Next time he tries it, he gets both my elbows right in his gut.” She imitated a quick thrust backward with both arms.
Dad spoke up, “Carrie, you’re fortunate you didn’t start a fight.”
But he was getting smile lines, and everyone else was laughing.
“No, Dad, really. I mean, everyone else around us was like, ‘Yeah, alright!’ And then these dirty Mexicans just could not leave their hands off Elizabeth, and she was getting all worried. So I traded spots with her, and he got it right in the foot. Wham!” She stomped her foot on the floor. “And I was wearing these babies.” She pointed to her spike-heeled boots.
And then there were tales of Chinatown and the haggling Carrie was now quite an expert at. She managed a large glass bottle of Clinique “Happy” for Elizabeth, two Louie Vutton wallets for Lucia and Queens, a soft fuzzy gray hat for Grandma Combs, several bootlegged DVD’s including “Ladder 49,” and a black t-shirt with a picture of the Statue of Liberty in white, with the words below it – “Welcome to America! Now speak English.” There was also a t-shirt from the both of them for Thor, with a red devil and the words – “Hell’s Kitchen,” 1966. They had visited Ground Zero as the president whirred by in his motorcade, frightening Elizabeth once again, fearing there was something wrong. Another night, after power-walking the streets of Manhattan and beyond, they had stopped for two hours at the Met, and then crashed at a little deli after.
Collette looked up from her thinking. It had been movie night at Shepherd’s apartment the night before, and she had a bit of a conversation with Washington, which was good, as she told her about the upcoming mission trip to Africa. She would leave the twenty-seventh of January. And then there was the wedding of an old friend of hers, who was having a Winter Wonderland wedding, so the coming snow was perfect. It was always good to speak with Washington. She was a girl with no shame, all interest in everything, and a genuineness you didn’t often see.
And then there had been Mercy’s boyfriend, whom they met for the first time – military hair-cut, blond, goatee, and he was still in business clothes. He was loud and friendly, but not in an obnoxious way.
Something broke her reverie. It was a little brown bird hopping on the frozen branches outside, as a soft white snow had fallen the night before. Collette had never seen a bird on her bean pod tree, and smiled at the little chubby ball of feathers as he perched smugly on the top branch. He looked at her through the window a small spell, as if he wondered about her, and then he was gone, off into the gray morning.
Collette walked over to her chest of drawers. On the top still lay her canvas, the one she had painted a week before in dark oils. It had nearly dried, and by the following Saturday, it would be ready for more colors. The menacing wave hung suspended over the earth, nearly to crash over and destroy. The red of the sky seemed to invoke the terror of any who might see it coming.
Collette thought back to Thursday evening, over at home. Rose had been dipping her hands into the glass jar of tomato red Christmas wax, a homemade candle sent to Mom over the holidays. While making the mess, she and Linnea began going at it again for no reason in particular.
“I’ll take your nose and stick it in a shredder,” she said, as Collette tried to turn attention back to the algebra book in front of her. “Eeew… never mind,” she concluded.
“Now you’re not making any sense,” Linnea spoke calmly, as if to herself, as she drew crayon across her coloring book.
“No,” Rose went on, “I wouldn’t shred your nose because it would be gross and bad.” She paused and thought, “But I’d shred an apple.”
“No, you’re not,” Linnea looked up from her coloring. “Besides, there’s no such thing as a shredder.”
Collette laughed to herself quietly as their banter continued. They never really had any reason for fighting. They just did so from time to time for the fun of it really, to see who could outbest the other in witty name-callings and statements. The thing was, of course, that they never were really witty sayings to begin with.
Friday morning there had been work once again, and on the way they made a stop by Granny’s Donuts, who was once again open now that the holidays were over. There were all the little old men inside with their coffee and conversation. OLeif came back with a brown paper bag, smelling sweet and of bread. Collette pulled out the chocolate long-john and bit into its doughy heart. An excellent way to begin a cold day.
Later, after work, the others had been over at the English’s for another Friday get-together. The moms were there for their weekly talk. Mrs. English had been teary all week as Diana prepared to leave, and then they were all in tears of course as they left Diana all alone as the elevator door closed in front of them. Diana suddenly had made up her mind that she had been foolish to ever want to leave, and begged them to take her back again the next weekend. Collette laughed when she heard. She knew Diana would be fine; she always was. By the following evening, Collette would have bet her life on it, that Diana would have already made the beginnings of a new circle of friends.
And while they were over conversing, she and Carrie-Bri stopped by Dierbergs for Carrie’s craving of fresh carrots with Ranch dip, Triscuits and pepper Jack cheese, with four glass bottles of Snapple peach tea. She was in heaven once they got back home and watched the new Midsommer Murders while she had all the treats she had missed while in New York.
Meanwhile, Collette and OLeif prepared to leave for the movies once again with Carrie-Bri, Peter, and Shepherd.
She thought of Joe and Francis that day as well, and how Joe had driven them both out, looking so cute together in the Honda Odyssey as they drove off while the family waved goodbye from the dining room windows, to the hobby shop for pine wood derby supplies, and then to McDonald’s for dinner.
Francis had come home with a bag of paints and such, throwing his arms up in the air with a “Yay!” as he and Joe went to get started on the detailing of the pine wood derby.
They were so funny together, the two of them. Such attention to detail and such big hearts. One headed for car design, the other for the military and West Point. They were precious, the both of them. The best two brothers she could think of to ask for. They always brought a smile.