"Where are you?" she asked.
"I'm at the corner of 69th and York."
"Stay there, I'll come over."
I stayed on the street corner and just watched the scene around me. As usual, mid-afternoon traffic was congested on the upper east side, as it was probably elsewhere in Manhattan. Ten minutes later, I saw Sondra walking up York Ave. She explained to me that all the phone lines and internet were down, so her work had sent everyone home. I asked what she wanted to do and she said go home, so together we walked down to her apartment on 45th street.
A little background: I met Sondra a few months ago in Montreal, one of my favorite cities in the world. She was visiting her cousin, who just happened to be one of my best friends. From the moment we met, we totally hit it off. She's an artsy type, Chinese, 5'2", super-cute with a button nose, with medium short black hair. She has big inquisitive eyes and an attractively curvaceous body. She was in Montreal visiting, and when I told her I was moving down to NYC in a few days, she told me she lived 2 subway stops from where I would be living. Perfect.
When things were somewhat settling in with work, I called her up and we began to hang out. Slowly, I began to fall in love with her, which is really weird, because it was the first time in my life I had ever been in love with someone. I introduced her to my friends, shocking them as they had never actually met someone who was dating (I've had very short lived relationships). Once, during dinner, when Sondra left the table to use the restroom, without prompting, my friend blurted out, "She's great! Don't you dare let her get away!"
Later on, I asked Sondra if she wanted to make it official, but she said that she wasn't ready for a relationship. I thought it was just an excuse but when I followed up with, "What happens when you are ready?" she replied, "I just hope you're single then." How can you not love someone who says that? My pride was hurt but I was smitten with her, so we continued to hang out and enjoy each other's company. I was resigned to thinking that I was, and would forever be, in the friend zone.
But back to August 14...
When we arrived at her apartment building, we trudged up 14 flights of stairs in 90 degree heat, complete humidity, and in next to total darkness (we used our cellphones as flashlights). Occasionally, we would pass someone going down the stairs who would inevitably ask us, "how many more flights to go?" Answer: too many.
We finally made it to her appointment, burning thighs and all. Sondra changed out of her work clothes and into an off-the-shoulder T-shirt and short shorts. It was about dinner time and we were getting hungry. Thankfully, her apartment had a gas stove. We found some matches and lit the stove - we had fire! We defrosted a couple of steaks in the sink, opened up a can of foie gras, and cut up some pieces of bread. For light, we lit some candles -- in truth -- great ambiance, great company, and not a bad meal.
Antoinette, her roommate, came home midway during supper. She was with a male friend and told us that it was absolutely surreal in the city. "The only lights that you'll see are from car headlights," she said. Then she and her friend disappeared into her room. "Fuck buddies," Sondra said, without me asking.
Sondra was interested in seeing Manhattan in near total darkness but I felt lazy and was not in the mood to walk down (and then back up) 14 flights of stairs. I was having a great time with her and didn't want to spoil the mood. Sondra insisted and so I finally relented and we walked the streets of midtown Manhattan with a flashlight. It was still hot and humid and there were still people everywhere. Cars were driving slowly up Third Avenue, eerily illuminating the passersby. Sondra and I looked briefly for a bodega giving away free ice cream before it melted but we came away empty handed.
