A Walk In New York

For a span of about four and a half years, I had the life-altering experience of staying in Manhattan. It was a cramped little building on 24th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenue. The apartment was an eight-flight walk up that provided a wonderful workout. My former reason for being in New York carried his bike up and down those stairs numerous times everyday. He was in damn good shape. He was, and probably still is, an actor/musician/waiter. This meant weeks or months gone and when he was home, he was still gone. Rehearsals, auditions, band practice, blah, blah, blah. But, at night I was always told the best bedtime stories and when I was restless, he sang me to sleep. This left me with all day and many nights bored in the big city. This led me to become good buddies with his friend, Kwajo.

Kwajo was a very tall, very built, soft-spoken man from Kenya. I still list him amongst the sweetest people I've ever met. I would often drift into his room and watch as he attempted to transform it from the cobalt blue man lair the last roommate had created. When he took a break from blue bleeding though white paint after three coats, he would sit down on the floor and roll some smoke. This made an already immensely laid back person supine for a time and when I looked at the notebook next to his bed I found the entire thing was filled with these vast, intricate mazes. Page after page was maze after maze. When I looked over at him, he was laying on his bed, pen in hand, about half way into another one. He offered me a smoke and I figured, sure, what the hell. Thinking about it makes my throat hurt but I smile because of the adventures we had ahead of us. After we'd listened to Massive Attack and discussed each individual note ad nauseum, we decided to go for a walk. Manhattan is a wonderful place to walk in. There are so many parks sprinkled between the beautiful, old buildings and skyscrapers that make up the main part of the island. We headed north and soon found ourselves near Time Square. An amazingly strong desire to eat had overtaken us and we stopped for a slice of the best pizza I've ever had. He then took me into the dark, scary back alleys of Time Square. This was before Koch had the idea to "clean it up". I was very glad to have a mountain walking next to me as we explored. We ended up by the East River watching this helicopter that was stored under the freeway. When it took off, it had to go sideways first and then it could freely fly. This fascinated us for hours. Soon, it was dark. Empty stomachs and a chill to the air pushed us home. As we walked, we were taken by this odd edifice…it had this aura of the bizarre and spooky about itself. It was a vast building surrounded by tall metal fencing opening into a courtyard that had a look of total urban decay. The building was very old and through he windows we saw what looked like guards and some truly odd looking people. Picture Nick Nolte's mug shot and you'll get the idea. Outside, what once must have been a wonderful garden was overgrown
and eerily light by bright spotlights. We stood, rooted to the spot, as we took everything in. After an age, we turned to each other and an impish smile spread over his face. I swear, I almost saw a light bulb go on over his head. He walked over toward a gate in the fence. It was locked by an old chain oxidized well beyond its usefulness. Kwajo took the chain in his hands and broke it apart. I think that is the coolest thing I've ever seen anyone do, hands down. With a quick glance that told us no one had seen what we'd down, we walked through the gate. Pure adrenaline had us walking fast, paranoid of every sound as we made our way to a series of steps that took us down. A bank of musty windows displayed their wares of row upon row of boxes. File boxes. It was some kind of file room. There was some lettering on the boxes and what did they say? Bellevue. Bellevue?

Kwajo whispered "This is where the take all the kooks!"

He reached over and tried one of the windows. It opened. That we did not expect. Now, the debate. Do we go in? God, my heart was beating fast. I could hear it pounding in my ears. Kwajos hands shook. A feeling swept over me.

"What, are we nuts?"

Self-preservation had kicked in. I believe the term high tailing it out of there readily applied. Up the stairs, through the gate and out on to the street where darkness and a chill in the air were very welcome. I looked out onto the street where a man having a very pleasant conversation with himself swayed while relieving himself.

"Look, ma, no hands!"

Yeah, that was Bellevue, all right. We didn't make it very far before we collapsed together, laughing. Tears ran down both our faces and my sides ached.

"We just busted into Bellevue!"

"Almost," he said sagely.

"Most people are trying to bust out."

Another round of giggling. When we got home, my former reason for being in New York was already in bed. I burrowed in and he asked what we'd been doing. I gave him a big smile.

"A walk. We just went for a walk."

Jennifer Jordan