The Charm of Lou Miller

What happened in Central Park?

The morning after you wake up. You open your eyes, the first thing you see is Constances face just right over yours glaring at you.

"Hey" she says as if this is a common thing.

"Hey?" You say on edge.

"You need to come downstairs, we want to talk to you."

It's really early, too early for your day off anyway.

You creep downstairs trying not to wake anyone, Constance walks normally without a care in the world. You see Daphne stood in the living room, dressed up. Confused, you carry on downstairs to the living room to see what they both want.

"So, we were thinking... for our day off... You could take us sight seeing. You know Manhattan like the back of your hand, you grew up here. Constance lives in Queens and I have never actually properly seen New York because I am so busy working all the time. Pretty please." Daphne suggests.

"You're telling me, you woke me up at this hour... on our day off. TO SIGHT SEE!"

"Yea, did you not get that?" Constance replies sarcastically.

"Fine, I suppose I could use some good walking and to take my mind off of... stuff."

You sit down at the kitchen table with Daphne and Constance, move aside the work you were planning and then grab a piece of paper to write an itinerary down because you cannot possibly go through a sight seeing day without a plan.

After, you run and get changed. Lou is still fast asleep in be, so you try to be quiet. Just as you go to walk out the door Lou wakes up and leans up on one elbow. She looks you up and down and smiles.

"You look gorgeous..." she beams and for a second everything seems right in the world, everything falls back into place, "I love you have a good day, see you later?"

"I love you too, see you later. Er Lou can we speak?"

Lou lies back down and puts the pillow over her face and suddenly it goes grey again.

"See you later, have fun." She ignores your question.

Hours later you're sight seeing in New York, telling Daphne and Constance the history and what happened here there and everywhere.

"So we have been to the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central, American Museum of Natural History..."

"I have really enjoyed today, how about some food before we go through the rest of the list. Because I am starving and my feet hurt." Daphne suggests.

"Yessss, I could eat a McDonald's right now." Constance says excited.

"Mcdonalds? I haven't had one of them since.... I can't remember." Daphne looks sad almost like she has been deprived of something.

"Ok, lets go to McDonald's, we could walk to Times Square and get one there. Kill two birds with one stone." You suggest.

You walk to Times Square, its late afternoon, still bright and you still have much on the list to get through. You sit down and stare at all the billboards, staring up at the sky lit up by screens and you think how you want to do all the sight seeing in the world... with one person only and that one person can't even bring themselves to say more than a sentence to you, say what's on their mind. Despite the great day, filled with laughter and joy, your heart sinks.

Hours pass and you sight see and sight see, you become tired and so do the girls. You have walked all round Manhattan, probably more than you have ever before. You sit on a bench, all nearly breathless. The girls can tell that you're feeling down.