New York City. Here I was and it felt good to be here. I had been living in this section of town for several weeks now and I had come to know this one section fairly well, but I hadn't been out to see the rest of the city at all. I was getting a little restless and I thought I would go out and explore more. Now I saw how it was that people became tied down to just one small part of this city.
***
I had just awakened and found myself in a room which I had rented last night here in New York. I just arrived in New York yesterday and had found this room. I would probably stay here a while. The room was a bit indistinct, but a bed and a table were here.
I was thinking that if I needed anything, I should be able to find it in this town, if I just looked for it.
A woman and a fellow walked in and I chatted with the woman a little. My two blue suitcases were still packed and lying on the floor. But someone had gone through a sack I had brought in and had piled a bunch of my clothes on the floor. Some towels were also stacked there. The sack must have really held a lot. I figured the woman now with me must have gone through my stuff. It didn't bother me much that she had done it, but I wondered if that was the practice here.
I chatted with her a little. I told her this was my first day of living in New York. She told me she had been here a long time. I thought maybe she might be able to help me if I needed to know something later.
She said something about the key and I didn't understand her at first. It turned out that there was a lock on the downstairs door and also one on my door. The lock on the downstairs door was locked between 4:30 and 6:00 o'clock every evening. I didn't yet have a key to the downstairs door, but I didn't think that would present any problems at the moment. The woman tried to tell me what time the door was locked at night, but I simply couldn't understand what she was saying. Finally the fellow told me that the woman said the downstairs door was locked at 3 o'clock in the morning. That should be no problem for me.
The woman left and the fellow began cleaning up the room some. He sponged off the table and I was glad to have a clean table. Maybe he likewise would be able to help me if I needed it.
***
I was out on the street walking around. I needed to buy a map of the city. I wasn't even entirely sure where my room was located, but I thought it was on the Hudson River, which ran east-west across the northern edge of New York City. I figured my street must be a numbered street.
I passed a fellow who looked like the fellow I had seen back at my room. He stopped to talk with someone. I supposed I could start a conversation with him and get to know him, but I preferred to be alone right now.
I was only paying $130 a month for my room. When I had first asked how much it was, I was surprised the price had been so low. I thought it might be $130 a week. I remembered having once talked with
Judith (a Dallas acquaintance) once about how high the prices were in New York and mentioning that Weinstein had been living in the same place for years and years because his rent there was so low.Why, there was Weinstein now, walking into that building. I could see him through the glass. A couple young women were laughing at him. I could almost read their minds. They were thinking about Weinstein and how he was always looking for new jobs. I also thought about Weinstein and considered that he was a rather peculiar fellow. He still retained some of his ordinary nature from having grown up in
Portsmouth. But he had managed to develop also into an extraordinary person in his own way. Working at many different jobs was his way of acquiring experience and some day he would be able to use all that experience.Myself, maybe I ought to look for a job also. But I had enough money to live on for probably a year and a half without working. So I doubted I would work. Actually I felt as if I would probably simply be reading German literature in the German language for the next year and a half. I began reciting and singing some German verse as I walked down the street. It felt good to be here.
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