Rose had lived in the same apartment in New York's lower east side, all of her life. Her parents had brought her home from the hospital... to this apartment. After college, she had returned to New York.... to this apartment.
When her parents died a couple of years ago, in a car accident, the lease and the rent-control binder, had transferred to her name and she couldn't afford to give up a spacious two bedroom for only $350 a month! The same size, newer places just down the block, that were not rent-controlled were going for $2,500 to $3,300! So she stayed, in this apartment!
She would probably die, in this apartment.
Rose was an accountant. A profession that suited her character and her lifestyle. She was the very stereotype with her bookish looks. While not pretty by most standards, she had a kind of attractive, girl-next-door quality that didn't turn heads, but didn't make men cringe either. She was the type that would be taken home nearer to closing time than earlier in the evening. That is of course, if she ever went out and tried to be picked up and taken home by someone.
A little makeup and a new haircut along with new, more stylish clothes would make a world of difference. But, at 28 she was still a virgin and had promised her mother to remain so until she was married. It was a promise she intended to keep. Her promise did not mean that she didn't have desires and needs, however. If anything, she had more because everything she knew about men and sex, had been learned from books and listening to her friends in college after they returned from dates. Everything was locked in her imagination and a very active fantasy life. She had kissed a boy once in high school and even then, didn't know what all the fuss was about. But now, she wondered.
Her promise also didn't cover her fantasy life that had begun shortly after their death. Along with her parents, in the car, had been Mrs. Spinelli from the next building, whose apartment was adjacent to theirs. She had lived across from them for 20 years and was her mother's best friend. Every year, they went upstate to the mountains for a week in the Catskills and it was on the return trip, their car was hit by a truck and all of them were killed instantly.
Two weeks later, Rose noticed lights on in Mrs Spinelli's apartment for the first time since the funeral and realized that someone was moving in. The next day, an inquiry to the building super, also a friend of the family, told her all she wanted to know. The new tenant was named Jeremy Fortus. He was 31, Jewish, single and was a conductor on the subway. Although she had yet to see him, nothing about him seemed interesting enough to make her want to meet him. Although, he was her neighbor, she felt it only polite to say hello and welcome him to the neighborhood when she got the chance. "Despite what most of the world thinks about New York, it's really a very community oriented place. Neighbors are very important here." She thought to herself, remembering the lectures from her dad about being nice to people in the neighborhood. "They're all we got and we all gotta live together," he'd say.
Funny. she thought. I tried to block out all those lectures and lessons in life he was so famous for. I guess I was listening anyway! She missed her father. She made a mental note to make some oatmeal-raisin cookies for Mr. Fortus as a welcome gesture.
As she sat in the dark waiting, her mind had drifted back over the past two years and the changes it had brought. Something she often did during these nights waiting for Jeremy to get home. Had it really been that long, she wondered. Two years of this already? It seemed like yesterday!
It was actually several days before she found the opportunity to take the cookies over and introduce herself to her new neighbor and she was unimpressed from the start. When she rang the bell, instead of opening the door, he simply yelled through it. "WHAT? Who is it?" Finally he had been forced to open the door since she would not yell in order to be heard through it. "Yeah? What is it? I ain't buyin' nothin' lady!" He was gruff and rude and ill mannered. This is just what most people think of when they think of a New Yorker, she thought.
"Hi. I'm Rose McKensie from the next building. I just wanted to say hello and welcome you to the neighborhood." She offered the plate of cookies to him but he just stared at her.
"Yeah! Like I said, I ain't buyin' nothin'!" and started to close the door.
"Sir! Excuse me," she insisted. "I am your neighbor from across the way." Looking through the door into the apartment that she knew as well as her own, she pointed out. "See that window? That's my apartment. We live about two feet away from each other and I thought it might be nice if we were at least acquainted." Then, shoving the cookies at him she said "Welcome to the neighborhood," and she turned to leave.
"Yeah, whatever," she heard him say then heard the door close.
Well, that was certainly worth the effort! she said to herself. She was happy she had decided to put the cookies on the paper plate rather than her good one. She'd never see it again!
Thinking back on that night always made her upset all over again. She had tried to do something nice and had been shunned for her trouble. That was the first and the last time she had spoken to him. Yet here she was waiting for him to get home like she did every Tuesday and Thursday night. Hidden in the dark, waiting for his lights to come on and to see who he had brought home tonight. She couldn't understand how such a rude man could be so successful with women, yet he seemed to have a different girl up there each time! Well, at one time she hadn't understood. That was before she saw them the first time.
A couple of weeks after he moved in, he still hadn't put up curtains or blinds or even an old sheet to cover the window. It was the window next to her old room which she now used for storage and books so she rarely went in there since moving into the larger bedroom that had been her parent's room. That night, she had gone there to retrieve a box of old photos and noticed the lights in his apartment. Then she noticed that there were two people and that they were both naked and chasing one another around the room. She was immediately shocked and offended and she closed the door, making a note to complain to the super and force him to put up shades. She tried to put it out of her mind and go about her evening but she kept flashing back to the sight of the two of them naked and running around the room. Besides, she had not gotten the box of photos, which left her without a project. She hated TV and had not yet gotten another book from the library.