New York, 1993
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Luke said as he parked his truck in a nearby parking lot.
"Now you ask? After you just went on a two-minute rant about the $10 parking fee?" Anna asks with humor in her eyes.
Luke sighs, "Yeah, I know. But it's my sister. You don't know my sister."
"Well that's kind of the purpose of this visit— so I can get to know her."
"It's just that Liz is…" Luke struggled to find the right word, "…she's different than me."
"Hold on. Are you about to tell me your sister's a short and ugly woman who is nothing but rays of sunshine year round?" Anna teased.
"You know what I mean."
Anna nodded solemnly, "I get it, Luke. I remember Liz a little bit from when we were in high school."
"The thing with Liz is I never know which version of her I'm gonna get. I've never been to this new apartment, I don't know if it's just somewhere she's crashing with her latest boyfriend, or if she's on some sort of drug or alcohol spree. Sometimes it's a pleasant mixture."
"Hold on, I thought we were meeting her kid." Anna interrupted, confused.
"Yeah, well, he has yet to stop her from going on a River Phoenix level drug bender."
"Wow." Anna breathed out.
"So, again, are you sure you want to do this?" He asked.
Anna paused for a beat, looked Luke in his eyes and said, "I'm sure." with a supportive smile.
Luke returned an appreciative smile and they both climbed out of the car.
The apartment that they were visiting was in Flushing, Queens in the Koreatown neighborhood. Luke immediately hated it more with every step he took. The mixed smell of food and garbage, the buildings that looked like they were either going to crumble to the ground or suddenly be overtaken by the rodents inhabiting the walls and the bustle of people and traffic.
Thankfully, it was a crisp day in November which caused Luke and Anna to walk quickly to the apartment building. Once they reached the unit, Luke buzzed up to the apartment number he had scribbled on a piece of paper torn out of his ordering notebook from the diner. They heard the click of the door to the building being unlocked and walked in.
Liz's apartment was on the fifth floor and each floor looked filthier and more decrepit than the last. When they finally reached the faded gray door reading "5F", Luke took one last look at Anna before knocking.
"I'm coming!" A woman's voice yelled from inside.
The door swung open almost immediately after revealing a young woman in her twenties with shaggy blonde hair and Luke's ears.
"Big brother!" she exclaimed as she threw her arms around Luke.
Luke smiled, hugging her back and gave Anna a smirk over his sister's shoulder. Anna inadvertently grinned watching the sweet interaction.
"Come in! Come in! No need to stand out in the hallway," Liz said as she ushered her guests in, "There's an old man that lives on this floor who is convinced that I look exactly like his third wife even though he's about a thousand years older than me. He's sweet, I had a beer at his place the other day," She yammered.
"Liz, you remember Anna Nardini? She was the same year as me at Stars Hollow High." Luke segued immediately trying to ignore his sister's somewhat frightening story.
Anna held her hand out to shake Liz's but Liz went straight for the bear hug, "Oh my god. It is like fate that you two got together after high school. How sweet is that? You didn't see what was in front of you the whole time. It's beautiful, really."
Anna laughed, "It's nice to see you again, Liz. Thanks so much for inviting us to your place." Anna gestured to the apartment.
The studio apartment was lacking in character, unlike its inhabitant, with gray walls, neutral carpeting, and little furniture. There was a mattress on the floor with either dirty or off-white sheets, next to it sat a ten-inch screen television with foil wrapped around the antennas; a kitchen that looked like it had not been cleaned in days with dishes and mugs piling on the sink and take out boxes overflowing the garbage can. It smelled like pizza and cigarettes.
"Of course, of course. I tried to clean it up a little for my guests." She looked at her space proudly. "Now I know it takes some arm twisting to get big brother to drive to the big city but he does it anyways. Isn't he just the best?" Liz asked Anna while gazing at her brother adoringly.
"That he is." Anna agreed with a nod.
"Hey Liz, where's Jess?" Luke asked looking around the room.
"Jess!" Liz called out not tearing her eyes away from her visitors.
From the open window by the mattress that led to the fire escape, emerged a skinny nine-year-old boy with dark unruly hair and a book.
"Jess, get over here and say hi to your Uncle Luke and his friend."
The young boy glued his eyes to the floor as he walked over to the group of adults. He had on a dirty pair of jeans with mysterious stains and ripped holes in them and a faded sweatshirt that said Stars Hollow Middle School.
"Hi," Jess said when he reached them.
"Hey Jess, I brought you something," Luke said as he dug into his jacket pocket.
Jess looked up in curiosity at what his uncle brought him this time.
Luke handed Jess and brand new deck of cards still unopened in its box.
"Oh, Jess! Me and Mick can teach you how to play poker!" Liz exclaimed.
"Yeah, or Go Fish or something," Luke interjected, glancing at his sister quizzically.
"Thanks," Jess said as he stared blankly at his gift.
"Well I would offer you guys a cup of coffee or something but I don't have any here— or a coffee machine. We can go to the market and grab some if you want. There's this shopping center that's mostly Korean jewelry and clothing stores, let me tell you their stuff is so rad. I wish I knew how to make it!" Liz said holding her fists in the air as she cried out. "But there are a few good cafes on the bottom floor. Feel like checking it out?"
"Sure." Anna agreed at the same time Luke started protesting.
"Great!" Liz exclaimed. "I am jonesing for a nice hot cup of joe." She started to put her denim jacket on, "Hey, maybe that's where the word jonesing came from."
"I think I'm just gonna stay here," Jess said as he started walking backward towards the window.
"Alright." Said his mother.
"No, Liz." Luke intervened. "Jess, why don't you come along with us?"
"No thanks."
Anna could see Luke was going to try to convince him to come out again and said, "No, Luke, it's okay. Spend some time with your nephew. Me and Liz will have a little girls trip." She placed a hand on Luke's arm.
"Sounds good to me!" Liz said.
"No, Anna, are you sure? You don't have to do that." Luke whispered to her.
"It's fine. We'll see you in a little bit." She assured him.
Anna buttoned her coat as Liz led her out the door chattering about the different kinds of jewelry stores in the market.
Luke looked over at the mattress and saw Jess sitting on it, propped against the wall holding the book in his hand and a pencil in his ear as if he had been sitting there the entire time.
"So, what are you reading over there?" Luke asked as he sat down next to his nephew.
Jess held his finger in the page he was studying and closed the book to show his uncle. It was a book with a plain blue cover and white letters that read Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham.
"Something for school?" Luke asked.
"Nope," Jess replied.
Luke was puzzled, "So what's it about?"
"It's about an orphan who leaves home to become an artist in Paris and then a doctor in London before he falls for a girl who ruins his life."
"So it's a real upper," Luke said.
"Yup."
Luke glances to the corner on the other side of the room that held books stacked on top of each other. He could easily imagine his young nephew sitting on that same mattress for hours on end reading all those novels. Where was Liz? Why was her son able to just waste time reading all day long in the tiny apartment?
"So does your mom usually leave you home when she goes out?" Luke asked trying to sound casual.
"Yeah. She's usually home by the time I have to go to school, though."
"She leaves for the whole night?" Luke demanded in shock.
Jess nodded nonchalantly as if Luke was asking if it was going to rain that day.
"What about that boyfriend of hers…Mack or something… doesn't he come here?"
"Sometimes." Jess replied, "But I usually try to make myself scarce when that happens."
"Why?" Luke asked, wondering if there was something wrong with this guy his sister was dating.
Jess sighed, placing the open book in his lap, "Because I don't really see the point in meeting someone that's gonna be in New Jersey by Thanksgiving."
"New Jersey?"
"Same guy. Different place to run off to. They're all the same."
It was unnerving for Luke to hear his young nephew speaking these thoughtful and incisive words in the voice of a little boy.
"So…what do you usually do when you mom's gone?" He inquired.
"Read, sleep, walk to school, the library, the park." Jess listed as he grabbed the pencil from behind his ear and began scribbling in the novel.
"I'm guessing you read a lot." Luke gestured to the stack of books in the corner.
Jess glanced at them from his book before immediately returning to his pages, "Not much."
"Well you like going to the library, don't you?"
"Yeah…" Jess answered cautiously.
"Well, why don't we go to the library while your mom and Anna are out?"
"Which one?"
"Whichever one's the closest."
"Okay." Jess closed his book and placed it along with the rest in the corner before walking towards the door.
"It's cold out," Luke said. "Maybe you should grab a jacket."
Jess shifted his weight on his feet for a moment. "I'll be okay." He said before he continued out the door.
As they walked the few blocks to the library, Luke glanced down at Jess, watching his cheeks turn red from the biting wind. "How are you warm in that thing?" Luke asked gesturing to his sweatshirt. "Liz got that 10 years ago, it's no thicker than a t-shirt."
Jess shrugged as he walked up the steps to the old building of the Flushing Queens Library. Luke shook his head in confusion wondering why his nine-year-old nephew was trying to be a tough guy. It's the only explanation for not wearing a jacket in that weather.
As they walked through the fiction section of the library, Luke began picking up random books and skimming the back covers in curiosity.
"The Catcher in the Rye." Luke read, "I've heard of this one. Have you read it?"
"Yeah," Jess said. "It's how I heard about the book that I was reading earlier. One of the characters mentions it."
Luke nodded and placed the book back on the shelf, realizing he was out of his league. After about 10 minutes, Jess found four books he considered interesting enough to borrow and they made their way over to the library desk.
"Do you have a library card?" The elderly librarian lady with leather skin asked Jess over her stereotypical half moon eye glasses.
"No. Could I get one?" Jess asked innocently.
"What's the name?"
"Philip Carey."
Luke looked down at his nephew incredulously but Jess did not return his glance. He maintained eye contact with the woman helping him.
The librarian scribbled the name on a piece of card stock and handed it to Jess. After checking out his books, Luke and Jess started back outside.
"So, back to the apartment okay?" Jess asked his uncle without glancing at him.
"I thought maybe we could grab a bite to eat," Luke said.
"Okay." Jess returned.
The pair stopped at a hot dog stand on the corner and stood next to it trying to absorb some of the heat radiating from it while they ate. Luke was uncomfortable with all the people rushing around, the sounds of the traffic, the smells of all the different foods intermingling. However, his young nephew was completely unbothered.
"So, Philip, how you liking that hot dog there?" Luke asked.
"It's great, Uncle Luke. Thanks." Jess returned and Luke could not tell if he was being sarcastic or genuine.
"Jess, come on, what was that about?" Luke asked desperately.
Jess dug inside of his back pocket and handed Luke a stack of cards. There must have been at least twenty. "What is this?" He asked looking through them. They were all library cards belonging to all different branches of The New York Library with a different name on each of them.
"I like to write in my books. Nothing bad or anything just what I think, mostly underlining things. It's all in pencil but the first few times I tried to return my books they wouldn't let me because they thought it was vandalism. They wanted me to pay a fine or else I wouldn't be allowed to borrow books anymore," Jess continued. "I just figured if I go to different libraries and get new cards each time with new names they have no way to track me."
Luke glanced down at the cards in his and hands and back at his nephew. He could just imagine this young boy walking miles and scouring for change to get enough money to take the subway to Manhattan just to get a few books.
Jess nervously glanced at his uncle before staring back down at his shoes.
"How long have you been doing this?" He asked.
"About five years," Jess replied. "Those cards are just from this month, though."
Luke gaped at the cards for a moment, "Okay." He finally said handing back the library cards. "You ready to go back to the apartment?"
Jess blinked, "Yeah," He said stuffed the cards back in his pocket and fell into step with his uncle as they walked.
"So, why Phil?" Luke inquired.
"It's the name of the main guy in the book I was reading earlier," Jess said while chewing on his food.
"Is that what all of those names are? The names of characters in the books you steal?"
"I guess you could say it's my burning cigarette," Jess smirked while he rubbed his arm with his free hand.
It was in that moment that Luke realized Jess didn't own a jacket to wear in the forty degrees New York weather.
A/N: Please tell me if any of you readers noticed my homages to the original series. Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think. ~Alex