What a delight to read your work, Steven.
You drew me into this story right from the start.
What a delight to read your work, Steven.
You drew me into this story right from the start.
Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty
~Albert Einstein
On our last day, when we were in the inevitable taxi on our way to JFK, I considered that our journey of ethnic discovery was finished. But the driver, who was giving us a squint in the rear-view mirror, had other plans. He was fair-haired and had two days growth of stubble on his chin, which had a cleft in it, so I’ll call him Butt Chin, but not to his face.
“What did you see in New York?”
“We saw Beautiful,” said Barb. “And good friends took us to Don’t Tell Mama’s.”
“And we saw the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island,” I added.
“What was your favorite?”
“Ellis Island,” we chorused.
“Barbara’s great grandfather and grandmother came through Ellis Island. They were from Rostov.”
“Rostov? I am from Rostov!” said Butt Chin.
Say it fast and it sounds kinda Russian. Butt Chin Butt Chin Buttchin. I'm serious. Try it out!
“It was during the pogroms” said Barb.
“They left to escape Czar Nicolas the 4th” I added.
“I left to escape Czar Gorbachev the 1st.”
“We thought he was a good guy.”
“You didn’t live in Russia.”
Butt Chin slowed down and came to a stop.
“If you want to take a last look, you can see a bit of Manhattan from here,” He pointed to our right.
Straight down at the end of the street was the Empire State Building. I realized it was one of the things we “didn’t do”. Lucy was a Martian up there. King Kong met his end up there. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr were supposed to meet up there…but didn’t.
“We didn’t go up there, Pirate Girl. Grand Central Too. Cartier-Bresson did Grand Central.”
“Then we’ll have to come back.”
That’s my woman, industrious with her time, extravagant with her love. She’ll do anything to please me. She’d run away with me to the moon if I asked her. If we can just get to the Rosarita Beach Hotel in Baja, it will be good enough for me.
©Steven Hunley 2017
Last edited by Steven Hunley; 10-11-2017 at 08:24 PM.
Say it fast and it sounds kinda Russian. Butt Chin Butt Chin Buttchin. I'm serious. Try it out!I thought I was the only one that did this...
Clever!“I left to escape Czar Gorbachev the 1st.”
Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty
~Albert Einstein
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