A Year with a New York Lover

New York, a party, and a mysterious man

Fall of 1960. Margot Edmond pressed her face to glass of the cab window, her breath fogging little circles from her nose and mouth where they touched it. Drops of rain slid down the windshield and transformed streetlights into mosaics of red and green and yellow on the windows. Her eyes followed the tight-packed cars with their angry drivers and pedestrians with their umbrellas pulled closely over their heads to keep the wet out. Everything was so different in New York City. Everything seemed to be filled with a certain type of urgency and excitement that were strangers to Margot who came from a place where everyone knew everyone's name. And so, thought Margot, everyone was discussing her hasty leave from the quiet old town she called home. Everyone was talking with each other over donuts and coffee during breakfast about Margot, the Edmonds's daughter, who had rushed off to the Big Apple to pursue a dream that was better left a dream and nothing more. But, she didn't care. 

The cab came to a slow stop as it pulled to the side of the busy street, the drops of rain pattering and blaring sounds of honking horns louder without the engine to drown them out. Margot pulled her face from the window and shoved her hand into her purse to pay the driver. She looked longingly at the money once it was from her hands, painfully aware of her wallet dwindling in size. She opened the door and rain splashed on her hair and coat as she exited and she realized she had forgot an umbrella might come in handy after spending so much time in the Oklahoma sun. The driver handed her suitcase to her and muttered a low "Have a nice day, miss."

Margot nodded in thanks with her hand shielding her eyes so she could see without squinting. As the man rounded the side of the car she shouted suddenly. "Wait!" she called. "Do you know, is building 3420 just around that corner?"

"Down a block and to the right, miss."

"Thank you!" She said loudly and before the driver could nod, she had already begun running down the shining sidewalk with her suitcase splashing behind her on teetering wheels. 

The driver's mouth went down at one corner, forming a confused smile. What a peculiar girl, he thought. He had noticed her beauty: sandy brown hair framing her elegant face, large brown eyes topped with thick crescents of lashes, lips that formed a beautiful smile. And the way in which she looked at everything with wonder. He could tell as she ran off excitedly, a bounce in her step, that she had come from somewhere far, far away.

Margot was almost running, her bag clutched to her stomach with her left hand and her suitcase dragged behind with her right. Puddles made sloshing sounds as people walked by hurriedly. After reaching the corner and turning right like the cab driver had told her, Margot stopped in front of a red-bricked townhouse that stood four stories tall. To the right of the door, the numbers 3420 could be seen peaking from behind an ivy vine. She stood in place for a while, forgetting the rain as she studied the building, taking in all its details as if trying to paint a portrait of it in her mind. 

It was a charming townhouse, with a green door and windowsills the color of a warm spring day. Ivy grew along the walls, cloaking the brick in a thin layer of leaves that glistened and rustled as raindrops hit them. Sitting below each window were dozens of potted plants with flowers of every shape and color. Although she was a stranger to this building, Margot felt a sense of warmth and happiness blossom inside her as she looked upon the place she would now call home. Home, she thought. And, for a moment, she felt a pang of longing when she imagined the white country cottage and rolling hills and shining sun and friends and family and lovers and the life she had left behind. But, the thought was pushed from her mind when a wave of excitement flushed her and she began to walk with a spring up the steps to the happy green door.

She pressed the doorbell and quickly began to smile as she waited for the door to open. Inside, a sound, something like a loud thump, sounded, soon followed by the crashing sounds of furiously fast steps banging down stairs. Music was playing loudly too and many voices seemed to fill the air. Muffled yelling could be heard and Margot stood outside, ear pressed to the door to try and listen. The yelling voices seemed to belong to two girls who were shouting at each other over something she couldn't quite hear. Suddenly, the door swung open wide and Margot stumbled forward.