The Thirty Something Snap

Chapter Four - Sylvia

Penny hadn’t brought any change of clothing with her and so the decision to first head to her place in Yonkers before making this daring attempt to cold-call Yoko Ono was already a given. I may be a man and I may not get everything about how a woman ticks but the one thing I do know is that she will not go anywhere if she isn’t dressed for the occasion. What she picks to wear for this occasion is anybody’s guess.

I suggested that we drive together to her place rather than take two cars. “We can leave my car at Parkledge and take a bus to the 2 line in Wakefield,” I said. Parkledge is the name of the apartment complex Penny lives in.

“The bus doesn’t run on Sundays, Howard. But I’m sure Sylvia will drive us.”

Sylvia Fusco is Penny’s roommate. She is sixty-five years old and is the widow of Francesco Fusco who died of a heart attack two and a half years ago at the age of seventy one. Sylvia and Francesco ran a small Italian restaurant in the Bronx called Fusco’s Pizzeria. The restaurant is still there but Sylvia gave the business to their sons Tony and Joseph after Francesco passed away.

Sylvia is also a snow bird. She lives in Yonkers with Penny during the Summer months and, from October through March, she lives in a place called On Top Of The World in Ocala, Florida. Her third son, Joey, moved to Ocala and runs a restaurant of his own down there that is simply called ‘Joeys’.

Penny and I got into my Nissan and began our Sunday morning drive to Yonkers.

“I better call Sylvia,” Penny said from the passenger seat. “She’d flip out if I walk in with you and she’s not dressed.”

Penny shortly began speaking to Sylvia. “Hello Sylvia. Yes, I’m fine. Yes, I know I should have called. I spent the night at Howard’s place. No. …No…come on Sylvia, you know me better than that.”

I could only imagine what Sylvia was saying. I’m thirty-nine years old and suddenly feel like a teenager who is about to be scolded. “Make sure she knows we didn’t sleep together,” I said with a low voice.

Penny motioned for me to ‘hush’ and continued to speak to Sylvia. “We got a big assignment and we got it at the very last minute. Edelman wants us to have something ready by tomorrow so every minute counts. Anyway, Sylvia, I’m with Howard right now. We’re coming to the apartment so I can get changed. I’ll explain everything else when we get there. We’ll be there in about forty-five minutes. Okay?”

I looked over at Penny after she ended the call. “Is she alright?”

“Yeah,” Penny said. “She was just worried. Living with Sylvia is great but sometimes it’s like living with my mother. You know?” I understood, of course.

I’m not really very familiar with the drive to Penny’s place so I turned on my GPS, or ‘Julie’, and began our trek down Meadowbrook State Parkway. “This is deja-vu all over again,” I said to Penny. “I just drove this exact same way yesterday morning when I went to rescue Peter.”

“Funny how things happen sometimes in life,” Penny stated thoughtfully.

“How do you think this is going to work when we get to Yoko Ono’s place at the Dakota?” I asked.

“Well, I’m sure there’s a doorman. We’ll just introduce ourselves and tell him that we’re there to visit Yoko,” Penny responded matter-of-factly.

“You mean we’ll pretend Yoko is expecting us?” I asked.

“Well, we’ll play it by ear. You know if the doorman gives us the third degree we’ll have to wiggle our way past him.”

“Wiggle our way past him!?” I exclaimed.

Penny laughed. “Not literally. I mean VERBALLY. We’ll sweet talk him a bit.”