Summer Of Sixty Nine

Chapter 4. Street Kids

Chapter 4. Street Kids

We walked for about three long blocks when we stopped in front of Marsha's apartment building. The Stonewall Inn was just up the street. The walk up the two flights of stairs were deadly silent. Well silent adjacent. There was still muffled noise ringing throughout the building of people on the streets, music, and traffic. My curiosity killed the silence, "What happened last night." We enter the small apartment and both of them turn to me. "What?" Sylvia groggily asks. "At Stonewall. What happened last night? You guys said something happened there." I explain my question further to be given a response by Marsha. "Raid. Them pigs come and raid our only space. Gather up all of the drag queens, transvestites, and dykes. It's against the law to dress up as the opposite gender. We still do it anyway. You are lucky if you make it out at the end of the night without a scratch." I looked over to Sylvia whose face changed quickly to anger. She speaks with more confidence now, "This is why we need to fight. Kids like us, we got nothing to lose. This is our life, it's only what we make of it." I looked over to Marsha who was now taking off her makeup. "That is why, even though I know they are going to take us, we continue to do it. We just want to be seen as humans." She speaks with poise but like she has the drive to fight. "Anyways, I'm going to get some sleep okay? Goodnight y'all." The apartment was quite small so we had to make due. Marsha was on a twin-sized mattress and Sylvia was on the couch, which meant I got the floor. I'm not complaining though, I'd much rather be on the floor of a cool apartment than outside in the summer heat.

Nighttime has always been hard for me. I was diagnosed with insomnia when I was little, and on this particular night it hit, and it hit hard. I guess the stress of it all just finally hit. Everyone was asleep and I should be too but too many things are spiraling in my head. Thinking anywhere from deep to light-hearted thoughts. And by the time I knew it the ticking watch on my wrist pointed to the time 4:27 am. Great. I try to lie down once more and fall asleep. Maybe this time it would work.

I guess it did because I woke up to the scent of coffee. I checked the time and it pointed to 11:38 am. At least I got some sleep. "Rest well sleepy head?" the playful voice of Sylvia echoed through the apartment. "I guess," I spoke with sleep still on my mind. Wanting to go back into the peacefulness of sleep was all I could seem to think. Marsha, although not in any makeup or hair anyone, sat next to me placing a hand on my knee. "I want you to know that we both love you a lot. Even though we only met last night I have grown a very big bond with you. And I am really sorry for what happened with your parents. But I say, as gay people, we get to choose our family, and that family is so much bigger than our biological families will ever be." Marsha always knew what to say, she gave great advice and never judged. I sat up and wrapped my arms around her. "Thank you." I whispered in her ear.

"Okay, okay. Enough with the sappy. I will see you guys later. I gotta go work." Sylvia got up from her seat on the couch and grabbed her purse. "Bye doll." Marsha called after her before she shut the door. Quite frankly I didn't want to know what she meant by 'work.' That is a mystery I want to stay that way. "I have something I want to show you." Marsha broke the silence with her voice filling the air. "What is it?" I question her. "You will see." And with that we are getting dressed and walking out of the apartment.

We make our way out of the apartment and into the daylight. I can't help but notice that everything has so much more color and beauty now that I really look at it. My hand in Marsha's she leads me up the street to the thing she needs to show me. What really shocked me was the people walking the street seemed to care about each other, like this street was a big family. Everywhere I went in New York had always been, nobody cared about anyone or anything. They only cared about themselves and where they were headed. Even though I grew up here my whole life I never understood why people were so cold all of the time. But here, everything was different. It was like a whole new world.

My trace was broken by the hollering of people from the steps of an apartment entrance, "Oooo, It's the queen herself." One of the voices said. Marsha let go of my hand and did a little prance in front of the little crowd. "Danny, these are some of the street kids." I look over to the group of kids and wave. "Guys, this is Danny." They all give a slight 'hey.' My eyes drift to one of them. Long dark brown hair, stunning green eyes, and scarce makeup. He is probably my age. "My name is Gio," He speaks up as he sees that I am staring. He has a very thick New York accent with a bit of Jersey sass. He gets up from his spot on the steps and walks towards me. "Danny," I put out my hand for him to shake it and he did. He looks at me with his doe eyes and I immediately get butterflies in my stomach. 'Stop.' I think to myself. 'I can't fall for him.' There is no way that I can. He breaks our stare and introduces everyone. "That is Kai." He said about the shorter boy with blonde hair. "He don't talk much." I take a mental note of that. "That is Tayse, she is the best queen of all of us... according to her." I let out a laugh as I looked at the gorgeous dark-skinned queen in front of me. He looked almost like Marsha, but with more sass. "And last and least," I let out a small giggle, "That is Annie. We don't just call him that because of the hair." I look over to the red-haired guy and wave a little. "Danny, Welcome to Christopher street." Gio says with a tone of warmth but also fight in his voice. I look over to Marsha and she looks back at me, "Go, have fun." I give her one last hug before making my way over to the group.

"You are very handsome, you know that Danny." Gio says bluntly. I blush a little, "Oh- um... thank you." Wow, really smooth Danny I think to myself. "Girl, he just got here. Stop trying to get with everyone you see." Tayse jumps in. I giggle a little bit. "Tell us about yourself Danny." Gio says curiously "Um- okay. I was born and raised in the Bronx. I have one sister, and I am going to NYU in the fall." I see nods of approval from everyone. "Mister smarty pants over here." Gio says in a flirtatious tone. "Okay are we going now?" Annie speaks with a lazy tone. "Yeah. One second." Gio answers. "One more person you need to meet." Gio says and turns facing the road. "That over there is Ray. He is like our gay father. We take care of his dog, he takes care of us. He makes sure that we have food and water." I look over to a man, about in his late twenties with a dog in hand. Long shaggy hair lays just under his shoulders. I wave at the man and get a warm wave back. "Okay let's go." Tayse says, jumping up from his place on the floor.  "Where are we going exactly?" I follow in confusion. "Anywhere the wind takes us." Gio answers creepily. Okay I guess I am following since I have nowhere else to be.

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