New York Minute by Don Henley

XXX

Harry got up

Dressed all in black

Went down to the station

And he never came back

They found his clothing

Scattered somewhere down the track

And he won't be down on Wall Street in the morning

He had a home

The love of a girl

But men get lost sometimes

As years unfurl

One day he crossed some line

And he was too much in this world

But I guess it doesn't matter anymore

In a New York minute

Everything can change

In a New York minute

Things can get pretty strange

In a New York minute

Everything can change

In a New York minute

Lying here in the darkness

I hear the sirens wail

Somebody going to emergency

Somebody's going to jail

You find somebody to love in this world

You better hang on tooth and nail

The wolf is always at the door

I'd forgotten how extensive New York was, and looking at it through the window of the Parker's car was like seeing it from a new perspective, rather than seeing it on foot. I watched as big buildings passed by, and when we stopped at a streetlight, my eyes widened at the neon sign on the corner.

"That's... that's where Dally and I used to go all the time." I said as I pointed at the building. The Baby's Cradle had been a nightclub, but also a space for young kids to hang out. The owner had been the father of a boy who'd been part of a gang, he'd been shot in a gang fight. I'd talked to him one night while Dally had been in jail, and he'd told me everything.

"Yes, I remember when it was a bustling place. He's going out of business unfortunately. There was a drug bust a couple years ago, he was deemed not to be connected to it, but that sort of thing isn't good for an independent business." I was silent as I watched the sign disappear, just another life ruined by drugs.

It didn't take long to get to the Parker's house, and as soon as we were parked I could remember walking up the walkway to the door. It made me look around, and I could see Dally and I walking across the street.

"Mia dear, come along. Have you eaten?" I turned away and headed for the front step.

"Not for awhile now. I was just going to go to sleep but, well, I wanted to see if I could find you first." Mrs. Parker smiled as we walked inside, followed by Mr. Parker who had insisted on carrying my bag, though I took my guitar case.

"Well we'd better get something cooked up for you. You must be hungry." I shook my head, not wanting to force them to be awake longer than I already had.

"No, trust me I'm fine. I just really would like to sleep." Mrs. Parker seemed ready to protest, which made me smile because she would never let Dally and I go to bed without food, no matter what time we came knocking on the door. But she seemed to realize that arguing with me now wouldn't have the same effect, so she just sighed.

"Alright, I'll need to get your room set up first, it'll only take a moment." She headed for the stairs while I stood in the foyer, looking around. It hadn't changed, save for a few pictures on the wall. I stepped closer to one and couldn't help the gasp that escaped when I saw me and Dally, sitting on the front steps of the house. We were smiling, not looking at the camera and Dally had his arm around my shoulders.

"You probably don't remember that day." I turned to Mr. Parker who had followed his wife upstairs with my bag and then come back down. "That was the last time we saw you two." I felt guilt crawling all over me, and I turned back to the picture.

"That's probably one of the last pictures of Dally smiling." I said as I ran my finger across the glass, over Dally's face. I smiled, trying to remember what it was like to physically see him outside of pictures. Sometimes it felt like it was getting harder.

"I'm so sorry, Mia." Mr. Parker placed a hand on my shoulder. "The two of you were very special to us." He paused as he guided me towards the stairs. "We had actually thought about running the idea of adoption past you guys." I nearly tripped up the stairs as I turned with wide eyes to look at him.

"What?! Are you serious?" He nodded and my legs gave out, and I sat down on the steps, holding my head in my hands.

"Oh jeez, I'm sorry Mia, I didn't mean to upset you." I shook my head and brushed away the few tears that had started to fall from my eyes.

"No, no it's fine. I just..." I looked at him where he had sat down beside me, placing a hand on my knee. "I would have loved that. I wish we had come back." Mr. Parker reached over and wrapped me in a tight hug, and I buried my face in his shoulder and hugged him back tightly.

"Well, Mia your bed is ready- what's going on here?" I turned to look up at Mrs. Parker who was standing at the top of the stairs.

"I just told her we had thought about adopting her and Dally back in the day." I stood up and walked up the stairs and wrapped my arms around her neck.

"Thank you." I said and pulled back. "I'm sorry it never happened. If it had maybe... maybe Dally would still be alive." I bit my lip for a second to starve off the tears before smiling. "A lot could have been avoid if we had stayed..." I took a deep breath and thanked them before heading for my room.

It felt like I had never left. I knew the way to the room where Dally and I had stayed without even thinking about it. When I stepped in, I felt the same sense of peace and safety that I had when I was younger, and I dropped down on the bed. I curled around one of the pillows and desperately tried to stop the tears as I fell into a much needed sleep

XXX

The smell of bacon woke me up and I slowly rolled myself out of the tangle of blankets I had cocooned in during the night. I rubbed at my eyes and then looked down at my rumbled clothes that I hadn't bother to change last night. I sighed and stood up, stretching until I felt my back crack and my whole body went numb for a moment before I made my way downstairs.

"Well look at you sleeping beauty." Mr. Parker said with a smile as he set down his newspaper. "I was starting to think I would need to send a marching band through your room." I smiled as I sat down across from him and Mrs. Parker was immediately by my side with a plate.

"I made all your old favourites." She said with a wide smile. I nearly started to drool as I looked at the blueberry pancakes with bacon and scrambled eggs.

"Oh my god this looks absolutely amazing! Thank you, Mrs. Parker."

"Mia you know you don't have to call us that anymore. If we told you it was fine back when you were a kid, it's absolutely fine now. You're an adult." I smiled before diving into the food, the fact that I hadn't eaten much yesterday was starting to kick in.

"Slow down darling, you're going to choke." I froze for a moment before chewing what was in my mouth more slowly and then took a sip of the coffee Mrs. Parker - Jane - put down in front of me.

"Sorry, I forgot how good your cooking was. It's been a very long time since I had something this good." They looked at each other before Samuel cleared his throat.

"I know you're probably still tired and everything, Mia." I knew where this was going, and although it was going to be painful, I wanted to talk to someone. Someone who had known me when I was younger - yes they hadn't known me before the city got to me, but it was still a time when I had had a little bit of faith that things would get better. "But what you said last night, about a lot being avoided had you and Dallas stayed, well, we'd like to know what you meant by that." I took a deep breath and pushed the last piece of bacon around my plate.

"That's a really long story." I said with a slight laugh, even though rewinding all the way back to the beginning hurt. Jane reached to me and placed her hand on top of mine.

"Mia, you know you don't have to tell us everything if you don't want to. We really just want to know that you've been looked after the past number of years." I nodded and closed my eyes for a moment, breathing deeply before I let myself go and started to spill the whole story.

XXX

I didn't notice the passing of time as I came to the end of my story. I'd told them everything, from Dally and I leaving the city to why I was now back and everything in between. Vocalizing some of it had been hard, parts that I had been determined to forget became real again and I'd had to stop and fight back tears. Being here reminded me of how tough I had been, I felt the complete opposite of that right now.

"Oh dear." Jane finally said as she looked at me with wide eyes. Samuel was still sitting silently, and I could tell he was caught up on what had happened with Tim. His eyes were sort of stormy and he didn't look impressed. "Honey, you've been through so much, I - I would never have thought... I'm so sorry..." I cut her off with a smile and a hand over hers on the table.

"It's fine, yeah it's been crazy but I mean there have been good times. I mean Dally and I getting together was the best thing for a while. It was like everything I had wanted until it just became the norm and then it was sort of boring but, ya know I wouldn't have changed it for anything." I sighed and stood up to walk to the living room. It was raining and I sat down in the chair by the window. It had always been my favourite because for once I was able to watch the world pass me by while I was safe and warm.

"I wish we had stayed in contact." Samuel said as they followed me into the room. "Maybe we would have been able to help the two of you along the way." I smiled as I curled up in the chair.

"I've accepted a lot of it as just needing to happen. Some things couldn't be helped..." I turned to look out the window as a couple passed by huddled under their umbrella.

"Mia, you stay here as long as you need to. If you want to make calls to those boys go right ahead, and don't worry about the cost, we'll cover it." I started to protest, but Jane held up her hand. "Like Samuel said last night, we were ready to adopt you and Dallas before you left. Now we may not have gotten to that, but we never lost our love for you two and now that you're all we have left, the longer we can keep you the better." She stood up and came over to kiss my forehead and then held my face so I was forced to look at her. "I know it hurts now, but you did the right thing. Sometimes it is best to remove yourself from a painful situation rather than sit around waiting to see whether it's going to become better or worse." I knew my eyes got watery as she leaned in to hug me, but I held them back as I returned the embrace. When she pulled back, even she looked ready to cry. "I do hate to leave you, but I have a meeting at the church to go to and I can't miss it. I'll write the number down in case you need me, otherwise Samuel will be around." I nodded and smiled at her before she turned to go to her room to change. I turned back to the window and watched the rain streak down the glass.

"Are you still interested in cars, Mia?" I turned as Samuel stood up.

"Yeah, I mean sort of. It's one of those half pursued passions." We both laughed a bit and then he motioned for me to get up.

"Well, lets go pursue it a little bit. Follow me." I followed him to the back door that lead to the garage and when he opened it I stopped and stared. There was a cherry red sport car beside an older model truck that looked like it was in the middle of being restored.

"Wow. It's beautiful." I started to circle the car, tempted to touch it yet afraid to leave even the slightest smudge mark.

"Ain't it? It's a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible. I bought it at an auction a couple years ago, she was in rough shape but I fixed her up." I smiled at how proud he sounded as I wandered over to the truck. "Ah yes, and my latest project. It's a 1957 Chevrolet Apache - yes I do like my Chevrolet vehicles." I laughed as I opened the drivers door and looked around the cab of the truck.

"Looks like it's in pretty rough shape." I said as I glanced at the rips in the upholstery of the seats.

"Yeah, it doesn't look so good, but the engine is sound, so it just needs a good paint job." When I stepped back to shut the cab door, I turned to see Samuel holding out a sandpaper block. "Mind giving me a hand?" I smiled and took the block from him and went to work on the hood.

XXX

The garage was where Jane found us a couple hours later.

"I should have known this is where I'd find you two." She said as she looked over the job we had done. Most of the truck had been sanded down and was ready for an initial coat of paint. "She hasn't even been here 24 hours and you already have her labouring away." I laughed as I wiped my hands off on my pants.

"It's fine, actually it's been great." I walked to the door. "I need a shower, and then I have to go out. There's someone I want to see." I headed to my room to grab clean clothes before walking across the hall to the bathroom.

I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my jeans as I wandered down the street. Somehow I remembered everything, as if I had never left and I'd been walking these streets every day for my whole life.

Jessie's words were still playing in my head, and I could see the look on her face, the way she kept glancing over at David. She knew something was up, and the only logical thing was that whatever was happening in Tulsa had to have connections to here, otherwise she wouldn't have been there.

I walked into the burger joint she had talked about and was only mildly surprised to see her standing behind the counter. She glanced up when a bell chimed over the door, and did a double take when she saw me. I knew my smile didn't look sincere, it wasn't meant to. All I could think about was the fact that she had something to do with Tim getting his hands on drugs, somehow she had managed to destroy the one good thing that had been happening in my life since Dally died.

"Hello, Jessie." I said as I slid onto a stool and leaned against the counter. "It's really good to see you again." She gulped and stood up straight.

"Hiya, Mia." She barely managed to conceal the tremble in her voice. "What are you doing back in the city? I thought you were happy in Tulsa." I smirked. I felt the rush of being able to have someone be so nervous just with my presence. Because we'd been so young when we'd had our gang, it was a lot harder to intimidate people so easily - even though we were the youngest gang leaders at the time.

"Tim and I broke up, so Tulsa really isn't a happy place for me anymore. I'm sure you remember how stressed I was when you and David were there." She nodded, not saying a word. "Yes, well ya see we'd been fighting a lot. He was being very distant and was staying away a lot, which wasn't normal so obviously I questioned him about it, and he never wanted to tell me so we fought about it. I recently discovered what was keeping him away." Her eyes widened slightly, and I could feel the anger burning through my whole body, and I hoped she could see it in my eyes. "Would you like to know what he's been up to? Or do you already have a guess?" She turned and walked to a door behind the counter. A second later she came back, walked around the counter to me and pulled me out the door to the alley behind the diner.

"Mia, I'm so so so sorry. You were never supposed to find out!" She had tears in her eyes, but I felt no pity.

"You really thought I wouldn't?! How stupid do you think I am?!" I pushed her up against the brick of the building. "Now why the hell are you down there dealing drugs? Not enough people in this goddamn city for you?" She shook her head, not even resisting against me holding her.

"It wasn't my idea. I'm just a middle person, I don't question anything otherwise they'll kill me." This made me freeze. Who the hell was running all this? "He sent us down there because Tim was starting to give him a hard time, and he wanted us to hang around for a while to put pressure on him."

"Who is 'he'?" I asked. I stepped back, suddenly feeling like something cold was being dumped down my back. "Why did you need to put pressure on Tim?"

"Tim didn't want to sell anymore. He wanted out, because you were home. He didn't want you to find out he'd been selling while you were away. He hated hiding it from you."

"Then why did he keep selling? And who the fuck is this 'he' guy?" Jessie shook her head, biting her lips as tears started to leak from her eyes.

"Mia he'll kill me. I wasn't joking when I told you that he has it out for all of us, especially you. But he'll kill me if I tell you anything. I don't even know the whole story, all I know is that he wants you dead, and he wants you dead real bad." Another chill went down my spine. Who the hell wanted me dead? I hadn't been here for so long, there couldn't possibly be anyone around who would still have a grudge against me after all these years.

"Just tell me one thing," I started, feeling nauseous and like I wanted to curl up and never move. "Why go through Tim? Why not just kill me?"

"Mia I told you, I don't know anything aside from the fact that he used Tim to get to you. I swear." Jessie hung her head and let out a shaky breath. "I wish I had your strength, Mia. I should have walked away a long time ago, but it was so easy to just stay in the routine."

"Yeah well, routine kills." I said and walked away. I didn't look back to see if she went inside or stayed out and watched me walk away. I just got myself out of the alley and started to head back for the Parker's house.

Nothing was making any sense. The only thing I got from what she had said was that Tim hadn't wanted to deal drugs, someone wanted me dead, and they were using Tim to do it. It didn't add up. I sighed and rubbed a hand over my face. Maybe coming back hadn't been so smart after all. If someone from here wanted me dead, they'd know by now that I was back. I got the impression that they probably knew a lot about my movements, and had for a long time.

In a New York minute

Everything can change

In a New York minute

Things can get little strange

In a New York minute

Everything can change

In a New York minute

And in these days

When darkness falls early

And people rush home

To the ones they love

You better take a fool's advice

And take care of your own

One day they're here

Next day they're gone

I pulled my coat over my shoulders

And took a walk down through the park

The leaves were falling around me

The groaning city in the gathering dark

On some solitary rock

A desperate lover left his mark,

Baby, I've changed, please come back

What the head makes cloudy

The heart makes very clear

The days were so much brighter

In the time when she was here

I know there's somebody, somewhere

Make these dark clouds disappear

Until that day, I have to believe

I believe, I believe

In a New York minute

Everything can change

In a New York minute

You can get out of the way

In a New York minute

Everything can change

In a New York minute