Jo
I teleported us out of there. Only not quite to 24th Street. Teleporting four people throws me off I guess. We were on 34th and 8th Avenue. New York City looked like a ghost town. My sisters and I were still in our doctor disguises.
Amy clung onto me a little too tightly. In her best pageant whine she shrieked, "Where are we?"
Beth shushed her. Good ol' Beth. She could find inner strength when she needed to.
Beth opted to be a bit more patient. "We're behind Penn Station. Hurry! We need to walk 10 blocks downtown."
While we walked one of us started humming the song, "Downtown." Okay it was me. Every stinkin' time I say or think the word "downtown" that oldie but a goodie comes to mind. Thanks Mom! Mom loved that song.
Every tenth of December my mom, my sisters and I would venture into the city. We'd do all the normal Christmassy things. See the giant Christmas tree at Rockefeller center, get hot chocolate and watch the ice skaters. Look at the holiday displays in Saks Fifth Avenue's windows then have lunch at a semi-fancy place. When we got older we'd see a Broadway show too. One of the first productions we saw was a 60's through 70's musical called "Shout." You'll never guess which song they featured? Nostalgia washed over me like an achy flood. It stung my eyes and made my stomach drop into my knees.
Amy started singing first. "When you're alone and life is making you lonely... you can always go..
We all finished singing "Downtown" together.
Then, as if in a Broadway musical ourselves we sang the rest:
When you've got worries
All the noise and the hurry
Seems to help, I know
Downtown
Just listen to the music
Of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk
Where the neon lights are pretty
How can you lose?
The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles,
Forget all your cares
So go downtown
Things will be great when you're downtown
No finer place for sure, downtown
Everything's waiting for you
Don't hang around and let your problems
Surround you
There are movie shows downtown
Maybe you know some little places to go to
Where they never close downtown...
The silent city was palpable. Broadway Theater hadn't shut down--since Covid 19. Ten years later all theaters were once again closed indefinitely. I should be concerned about the dying. Instead I missed my mother and felt sorry for myself. My mother's favorite song caught me off guard. I felt petty while the lump in my throat grew against my will.
Amy started crying first, then Beth followed by Allie and finally myself.
I hate crying.
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YOU ARE READING
4 Sisters of the Apocalypse
Fantasy10 years into the future four sisters discover they have unusual super powers. While reading the journals of their recently deceased mother she supernaturally speaks to them from the past. (Mary died suddenly due to a newly released hyper-virus by...
