Title: Applesauce
Author: MaddieStJ
Rated: K
Category: General
Keywords: Henry/Toni/Other Original Characters from the Pinned Universe
Spoilers: None
Summary: When Henry Met Toni
Disclaimer: Ugly Betty is the property of Silent H Productions, Reveille and Ventanarosa, and Touchstone Television.
Notes: This story is the beginning of the Series "When Henry Met Toni." This is collaboration between VesperRegina and myself that we started a while back. We will be producing alternating chapters and posting them as we can.
We plan to have a good time. We hope you will too. Let us know.
Chapter One
ApplesauceNew York, New York
A helluva town
The Bronx is up and the Battery's down
The people ride in a hole in the ground
New York, New York
It's a helluva town!
A flock of pigeons jockeying for position over some food crumbs on the grass scattered like confetti in the wind toward a cloudless late afternoon sky upon the approach of a lone figure coming from across a small bridge. Finding a bench, the figure sat down, stretched his arms across the back of the bench, took a deep breath, exhaled and grinned widely.
Looking around, he said to himself, "Central Park. 843 acres, used to be a sheep meadow, opened in 1859: about 25 million visitors a year. Landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted and architect Calvert Vaux, who went on to collaborate on Brooklyn's Prospect Park, designed the park. It's been a National Historic Landmark since 1963."
"A world away from the desert that is beautiful in itself, and what I'm used to. But it's seasonal here and I believe I will enjoy it." He remembered he'd set aside one month to play tourist and find a place to live before he started his new job at Meade Publications. He'd been in New York for two weeks He was staying with Adam Wolfwalker, his best friend since they were eight years old, in his Brooklyn apartment. They had kept in touch all through college (he had gone to the University of Arizona and Adam had gotten into Columbia) and Adam had graciously extended an invitation for him to stay with him when the position at Meade materialized. So he packed up what he needed in several suitcases. He carefully labeled the luggage tags, attached them and set the suitcases aside. He had already sent his favorite cartoon DVD collections to Adam. It had taken him awhile to make his selection but in the end he chose –Mighty Mouse – the original NOT the Ralph Bakshi version, Danger Mouse, Jonny Quest, Thunderbirds –the mega set, of course, and I Spy and Have Gun Will Travel. He liked the Robert Culp/Bill Cosby humor and coolness. And he liked the secret agent/spy/espionage/rescue aspects. He didn't care if they lost his luggage, and not that he didn't trust the airlines, but he drew the line at how his DVDs got to New York.
He had explored Brooklyn and was exploring the other boroughs via the subway. He and Adam had even taken in a couple of baseball games – Diamondbacks vs. the Mets, of course. They'd gotten seats along the first base line courtesy of a friend of Adam's from college who was working in Sports at WABC.
"If I'm at Meade long enough, I can write my own job ticket." He considered. "Maybe I'll do something in Europe. I'm close to it on this coast. A vacation to London or Paris or Barcelona would be nice." A wealth of ideas, opportunities and other miscellaneous things began to open up in front of him.
He and Adam had talked about going to New York off and on for many years, but when the time came, Adam went and he had stayed behind to help out his mother. His mother wanted him to go with Adam (he had gotten into NYU), but he knew once he went to New York, it would be a while before he'd be able to come back home for a visit to Tucson. So, he'd earned a BS, an MBA, played NCAA baseball and basketball with University of Arizona all the while working part time in the accounting area for Sunshine Media and then full time after college.
While in college, he'd gotten involved with and begun seriously dating a woman. She was vivacious and creative and made him smile. He knew his mother was not all that keen on her, but what he loved about his mother, was that she always encouraged him and let him make his own way, and he and his girlfriend continued as a couple.
Midway through the second year in his job at Sunshine, he began to get bored. Adam's letters had rekindled in him a desire to go to New York. His silence and half hearted bits of conversation at the dinner table led his mother to question him and then urge him to 'go, get on with your life' and he decided to test the waters and look for a job in New York. He talked over his plan with his girlfriend, who seemed only mildly interested, but he was on a quest and didn't seem to notice her reluctance.
In May, he received a job offer from Meade Publications. It seemed his boss and the CFO from Meade had gone to college together and his boss had written him a glowing letter of recommendation.
He called his girlfriend from work to tell her his news; then called his mother. When he got home from work, his mother was just as excited as he was and they spent at least two hours alternately hugging each other and exclaiming over his good fortune.
While the reception from his mother was wonderful, the reception from his girlfriend was less than. She did not think the job was wonderful news. She did not want to leave Tucson, especially not for New York. She did not want him to leave Tucson or her. She cited crime, dirt, crazy people, subways, crackheads, crowds, strangers and a number of myriad things.
Throughout her tirade, he looked at her with new eyes. And the eyes were disappointed with what they saw. She yelled. She cried. He asked her one more time to come with him. And she refused. She cried some more, but he was ready for something new...and…she wasn't. And while he was sad to leave her, that as they say was that. One his way home, he wondered about her lack of a sense of adventure. He felt his destiny was elsewhere and New York was just as good a place as any to start his quest.
Two weeks later found him in New York on Adam's couch and his belongings in a storage locker.
"So much for musing on my past," he thought. He took a deep breath and looked at his watch. Time to meet Adam and his friend Donn for dinner.
Standing up, he looked around the park – at the joggers, the cyclists, and people just strolling along enjoying the early evening weather - and laughing out loud, he jumped up in the air, pumped his fist and yelled, "Yes!"
Sheepishly, he looked around, smiled to himself and nodded.
Yes.
Humming to himself, Henry Kit Grubstick, 26 1/2, 6'0, 185lbs, brown hair, brown eyes, 20/80 vision, dry sense of humor, lover of trivia, cooking, sports and cartoons, affinity for sweaters, sweater vests, and outlandishly cool T-shirts and hoodies, adjusted his glasses on his nose, and brushed his hand down the front of his Giant Robot hoody.
Shoving his hands into his pockets, Henry headed toward the exit at Central Park West and into the beginning of the best and wildest adventures of his life.
New York, New York
A helluva town
The Bronx is up and the Battery's down
The people ride in a hole in the ground
New York, New York
It's a helluva town!