Friday, December 08, 2006
25 The Deck
She had organic toothpaste, recycled toilet paper, a cache of gel pens, and an “I Voted” sticker on her computer (it helps with identifying your laptop at the airport). The place was pretty sparse.
“This place has a deck with an awesome view of the city,” she said.
To the deck we took mineral water, and that proved a good idea. I talked a bit about John Ashcroft—just to settle my curiosity—and it sounded like she was not ever interested in the subject, though her parents might have been.
What a view from up there! (But worth the price of admission?) The Knight Building loomed like the ultimate monolith, trumping the bright big buildings beneath it: the Cosmopolitan Tower, the Epoch, the Big Z, the Civil Courts Building. We looked for the building she works in. It had to have been the rectangular one with all the lights on, didn’t it? A spectacular night weatherwise, very clear and very quiet. Sitting out there over half an hour, we didn’t see another soul. But we did hear a bird chirping, I thought a robin. I told her I wasn’t too mad about going through the sham interview. Maybe I’ll run for office, I said. County judge or something.
“I’d make a good judge,” I said, something I had never considered before and was surprised to be saying.
“Why?”
“Because I am good at being objective.”
Back downstairs, sitting at the small corner table in her apartment, me with my shoes off, just beat. As the minutes receded, she recalled how I said I was objective.
“Then can I ask you something? … How do you view this situation … I mean, the fact that you’re here at 3:45 in the morning?”
But I didn’t answer objectively, did I?
She said, “Were you planning on staying here?”
And what difference did it make—for the night was done. I contemplated a wily answer, something that wouldn’t commit me either way, like: “Given the time, and how late it is, and the cost of a cab ride….”
But I said, “Yeah,” nodding my head slowly.
And I was heading out shortly thereafter, down to Broadway so I could get a cab. She walked me down, though I told her there wasn’t any need. I don’t remember anything about the cabbie, but we took the parkway. My window was open, and the crisp air took me home.
Next: Word Association
