Neighborly Love

Manhattan can be a very cold place indeed and I am not referring to the recent cold spell in the weather. Night after night lonely souls sit in their undersized boxes in the sky. Once their doors are closed behind them at the end of the working day, the only other living soul they have contact with that night is the delivery boy, who comes armed with overpriced food and pidgen English at best. When I moved here I was forewarned not to build my social life around those living in the same building. Manhattan folk love their anonymity. They purposely don't want to hang out their dirty washing in public and many behave like ghostlike figurines, slipping in and out of their buildings without being noticed.

This morning I rode down to the lobby in the elevator with an extremely nice woman who lives four floors below me. We had conversed before since she attended the same summer camp my eldest daughter goes to, albeit fifty years apart. We continued where we had left off last time, conversing about our common denominating subject and ended up both saying good morning at the same time to the graveyard shift night doorman, who looked as if he was on his last legs. We walked out of the building together and carried on walking and talking until we reached the end of the street. I had every intention of walking to work, some thirty blocks due south and thought this would present the opportunity to part ways politely. I was enjoying her company profusely and was even contemplating abandoning my stroll to work to accompany her on the bus/ subway/ taxi, not knowing how she commuted. She was obviously thinking the same as I was and we both stopped and faced each other on the street corner. It was then she announced that she was walking to her gym, forty blocks due south. That put me in a bind.

If I announced that I too had intended to walk I would immediately stand out as a stalker who had a thing for older women. She had on sneakers and I work shoes. There was no way on earth that she would believe me if I stated that I was also walking . However the weather was glorious and I really didn't want to take public transportation. So with the thought of my co-op board forcing a sale of my apartment because I follow tenants around the city, I announced that I would walk with her. She was a little bit taken aback; probably for the reasons I just wrote about. She looked me up and down and then down again at my shoes, shrugged her shoulders and began walking .

We carried on idly chatting about my work, my charities I was involved with, my background, my kids and my upbringing. She was an excellent quiz master. And I got every answer right! About five blocks from my destination I finally summoned enough courage to ask one question back.

"What do you like about walking to work?" Yes, I admit it was rather a ridiculous question, way too vague and not really pithy enough to find out anything interesting about my newly acquainted neighbor. She paused in thought only, as she had a marvelous ability to think and walk at the same time. She carried on staring at the abyss and answered, "It is the only time I get to be by myself all day and properly think without being disturbed."

Not only was I a stalker but I was an intruder too and a little embarrassed! I quickly and quietly bode farewell and turned into one of those ghostlike Manhattanites from my building, sheepishly slipping away without being noticed.