Mediator in Manhattan… Well… Brooklyn.

Back to Brooklyn

The cold air hit me as I walked out of arrivals; I felt the cold air brush past my face. The leaves swirled around my feet. The cold breeze swept my hair off my shoulders. I inhaled the smell, the good ol' smell of exhausts fumes, and how I'd missed it. You don't have pollution in Carmel. I yanked on my suitcases and strided down the ramp and called for a taxi. The familiar yellow cabs were a welcome sight.

I jumped in the taxi and looked at the familiar sights, from the trash on the ground to the sky, which was blocked by the many skyscrapers, I'd missed it all.

We drove from JFK airport to Brooklyn. I had to pay a surprise visit to someone.

"OH MY GOD, SUZE!" Gina screamed and enveloped me in her death grip that she calls a "hug" before I could say another word.

"Susannah Simon, what the hell are you doing back on the streets of Brooklyn?" she squealed.

"Oh, vacation for a few days – thought I'd come and see my G!" I joked. Sleepy's nickname for her was something that she was going to live to regret. She hit me playfully and just stared at me. "Are you just gonna stand there staring at me or are you gonna let me in?" I asked, I wasn't used to the weather change and was beginning to shiver. She opened the door a little wider and let me in.

I looked at the place that had practically been a second home to me as I grew up. I saw the stains on the carpet that we had made before we realised that mud pies were "Outside play only". But it had changed – I suppose Gina's mom must have moved out, but the whole apartment seemed more… modern. It was no longer lived in and homely. The old, saggy, stained couches had been replaced with sleek, uncomfortable, leather ones.

The only thing that had remained were the photo frames – Having such a large family, there always was lots of pictures of their family.

The frames were there, but the faces had changed, there was Gina, Her mom, one of her and all 4 of her brothers. Then one more photo on the end. I walked towards it. Gina was there, looking stunning as usual. Wearing a beautiful, sexy white dress and standing next to a familiar face. I recognised him from somewhere, where? Mr Mystery was wearing a tuxedo and looked Hot! They made a cute couple … wait … GINA WAS MARRIED? … Holy crap… I never thought about that! Who did she marry? I looked at Mr Mystery, It was a long shot, so you could only see the figures. It was too dark to see his face, they were on a sunset beach, it looked very romantic. They looked like a nice couple, even from a distance you could see that she loved him.

"Soooze" said a quiet voice from behind me. I jumped a mile and turned around, it was a small baby – about 2 years old. WAIT! Gina had got married AND had a baby before hitting 23! I looked at the baby, and one look into the icy baby blues and I knew who the father of this baby was. "Oh My God!" I whispered. "Paul Slater"