Teddy Girls (Completed)

Part Seventeen: Central Park

February 7, 1964

The place was falling apart. Hinges off the cabinets, wallpaper peeling off, mold on the ceiling. As Veronica and I stood in the living room of the studio apartment, I silently replayed the series of events that led us to this moment. This moment....and the cockroaches in the corner.

     When Veronica and I drove into Manhattan, one of the first things we saw was Central Park. Kids and a families alike gathered to walk the length of the park. My eyes immediately lit up, but Veronica had to promise me that we'd come back as soon as we found a place to stay.

     The sun was already on the verge of setting that evening. As we parked on the corner of a downtown alleyway, Veronica promised me that this would be our last night without a house.

     As I watched her eyes flutter shut that night, I whispered to her that I was already home.

Trying to hold true to her promise, Veronica woke me up early this morning. I was very dazed and confused when she kept mentioning apartments. I probably should've put it together that we were going house hunting, but early Rachel is the worst Rachel.

Anyhow, Veronica had already been up and at 'em this morning. I hadn't even heard her at six when she left the van, and got coffee—which she shared with me.

When I fully awoke, I was very glad at the idea of renting an apartment. I was running out of clothes to wear. A washing machine would be sublime right about now. Veronica handed me a newspaper. She had snagged it from a woman when she bought our coffee.

     I didn't ask what she meant by that.

She had circled a list of apartment advertisements. The least costly ones were close to us, while the more expensive ones were closer to midtown Manhattan. Veronica suggested that we should check out the cheapest apartment possible.

     I was hesitant.

"Maybe we'll find a diamond in the rough! It's only ninety bucks a month." I remember her saying. I reluctantly agreed with her, and we didn't have to drive far to the renovated warehouse. That's where we are now.

     It was not a diamond in the rough.

     It was just the rough.

     One look from me, and Veronica politely turned down the landlord. Even when we left, I still felt dirty. Like the atmosphere of the place was clinging to me. Luckily, our next stops weren't as bad.

They were a little closer to downtown, so that meant we would be paying about one-hundred ten dollars a month. I was perfectly fine with that. After the first place, I didn't want to take our chances looking at more 'diamonds in the rough'.

We checked out a few other places, but they were all busts. If one apartment had a sink, but didn't have a shower, the next would have a shower with no sink. Nothing was what we were looking for. We had to move farther downtown.

The apartment complex we looked at next was well kept. All cabinets, and windows were intact. There was no sign of cockroaches, and it had electricity. It was cute, and open-concept. Much like Veronica's old apartment.

The landlord explained that the furniture was ours to keep, with no extra charge. We even offered to pay more, but she said that she knew what it was like to be new in a big city. And so, with a down payment of fifty dollars, we moved in.

•••

     We learned that our new landlord's name was Dorothy. She told us that she had moved to Manhattan from Arkansas. It was nice to meet another person with similar origins as us.