Chapter Three
Sunday 7th April
'I reminisce and I'm filled with desire.'
In the weeks that followed Nikki's visit Harry tried to move on as she suggested. To really start living his new life to cut the strings to all that tethered him to his old life. But it wasn't as easy as he thought. His original reason for moving away was so that he wouldn't be constantly reminded of what he had given up, what he had lost at every turn but now she had infiltrated his new life.
There she was in his bathroom brushing her teeth like she had in the morgue all those years before where she'd moved in uninvited and never left. There she was at his kitchen table, peering suspiciously into packets of cereal. She was the reason he had the world's largest box of tea bags in his cupboard. And it wasn't just around his apartment. The day he had taken her to Central Park, they had walked the route of his favourite run and even that now reminded him of her. The deli on the corner where he'd grab a breakfast bagel, his office, Molly's, even out with Jorge. She was everywhere.
He decided he needed a change to get out of New York for a weekend. He hired a car and drove down to Washington DC. Ruby had recommended it; there was a Cherry Blossom Parade she said he had to see. It only took five hours and he felt particularly proud of his prowess at handling the New Jersey turnpike and I 95. Washington was a real contrast to New York. There was spaciousness about it and the white faux marble buildings had such a different feel to the crowded, cluttered and rushed feel of his adopted home town. He cast a cursory glance at the marching bands parading up and down the mall. It was when a cow marched passed dressed up as Uncle Sam, including the red starred top hat he decided it was time to do something else and a visit to the Smithsonian air and space museum was a top priority.
Ruby had been right the cherry blossoms that the parade honoured were amazing and just a few steps away from the noise and ridiculousness of the crowds there was a beautiful walk passing the Jefferson Memorial and down alongside the West Potomac Basin to the reflecting pool and the Lincoln Memorial and all around were cherry trees, blooming in an even brighter white than the monuments, a few with the tiniest hint of pink. Three thousand cherry trees had been given as a gift from Japan as a symbol of friendship starting in 1912. Hawaii obviously hadn't been the beneficiary of a similar level of friendship a thirty odd years later, Harry thought. Further along he discovered a rugby tournament, he had never realised the Americans even played rugby; it was certainly never mentioned at NYU. He watched for a while, he had never been a rugby fan but he found it more soothing than the parade he had ignored, the team from the Naval Academy were really quite good.
He still went online on Sunday morning in his hotel room. It was the first road trip he'd taken without Nikki and it felt empty in a way. He had gone to get away from her but he soon realised that finding something to show her, to share with her had been one of the best parts of his trips. He remembered the landscape of Upstate New York back in the autumn, the stunning colours and the way the light had played across the valley. Nikki would have loved the cherry blossom, not the parade. The parades were all much the same he concluded but she would have appreciated the simple beauty of the trees and got a kick out of touching a piece of moon rock just as he had when he entered the Smithsonian.
He looked through the AAA book and maps that Ruby had lent him for his trip hoping that Nikki might take pity on him and go online. It had been a three weeks since he had spoken to her. Three weeks with no email, no phone call, and no Skype. He looked at his route back. He could stop off at Baltimore on his way home, that was only an hour away, but the guide book didn't have much positive to say about the town, not unless you were heavily into baseball or wanted a good aquarium. Neither of which interested Harry; he liked the final comment of the book though. All American cities and States found it necessary to have some tag line, some epithet to make its name more meaningful and Baltimore's according to the guide was Charm City. Only the violent crime, it went on to explain, in the city made any one in the know more likely to drop the first letter of the first word. Harm City; Harry decided to give it a miss.
Philadelphia was too much of a detour, and Harry didn't need to see a large cracked bell any more than he wanted to look at urban renewal in Baltimore or downtown Philly. He'd stick to Washington he decided and then drive straight back to New York.
He looked at the clock on his ipad. It was 8:30 and there was still no sign of Nikki. He decided to send her an email with a picture he'd taken of the cherry trees yesterday. She'd not replied to any of the other emails he'd sent and he didn't want to keep bothering her but he knew she would enjoy the photo. It would be like sending a postcard he surmised, that would be allowed surely?
He wrote Cherry Blossom in DC in the subject line, added the attachment and just wrote 'love from Harry' in the message. His Skype tone burbled that someone had come online and he clicked back to the correct window and hit the connect button.
"Hello Mum," he said.
"Hi Sweetheart. Were you expecting someone else?"
Such a Night: Elvis, Mac Rebennack
Sorry it's a bit depressing at the beginning. It will get better...Any comments or thoughts always gladly appreciated. And a big shout out to my Charm City homies.
