Story Update
Wow, this story has sat untouched for a very long time. Since the last update I not only completed my own student teaching and spent 11 years in the classroom I also got my Reading Specialist certification. I've also left teaching in the public school system (long story).
I'm not honestly sure what brought me back to this particularly story of mine but here I am. I just finished rereading it and it is probably the best I've written. I feel I need to complete it. The problem is I am preparing for a major move and I've packed up all those old notebooks with story plots and notes in them and so much time has passed that I no longer remember what the rest of the NY trip was supposed to be like. There is a chance I have some notes on my computer so I'm going to dig through the archives to see if I can find anything. If I can't, I'm going to attempt to finish it, but if I feel the quality is lacking or the plot isn't as developed as it should be, I will leave it alone-don't want to ruin things with a poor attempt at finishing this for sake of finishing.
Autumn in Philadelphia was originally intended to be a trilogy. The short second story was supposed to be a series of letters back and forth between Jon and Audrey over the summer after her student teaching called Dear Jon. The title was a twist on Dear John letters which will give you a bit of insight on how Audrey's last letter ended. Then Once Upon a September would revolve around the year of Turner's accident and answer the questions of what happened to Mr. Turner and why did he drop out of Shawn's life. These were all planned long before Girl Meets World came about and we had no answers to these questions. Girl Meets World changed things a bit.
So if I cannot complete this story to my satisfaction, I promise I will give you a Girl Meets World epilogue so that my readers (and Shawn) will finally know what happened to Audrey.
So please read through the story. Send me your thoughts if you would. I'll have something up in the next 2-3 weeks.
Thanks everyone,
Mercedes
Lyrics by David Bowie
New York State of Mind: (Or A Tale in Four Parts)
"Some folks like to get away,
Take a holiday from the neighborhood.
Hop a flight to Miami Beach or to Hollywood.
But I'm takin' a Greyhound on the Hudson River line.
I'm in a New York state of mind..."
-Billy Joel, "New York State of Mind"
Katherine Tompkins got little sleep the night before the big day. Early Thursday morning she awoke before dawn with a serious case of butterflies. The day of the sophomore New York trip had finally arrived. Katherine was excited about the four day excursion for more than one reason. When she was in the City years ago, she had not had the opprotunity to catch the vibe of the big city; tight audtition schedules had not allowed for little girls from Denison, Texas to go sightseeing; she was looking forward to actually seeing the city itself this time around.
The main reason for her giddiness, however, was due to Jonthan Turner. Katherine was determined to make the weekend a memorable one and show him that she was the one for him. She realized how much stress Jon was under trying to juggle school, Shawn, and a student teacher; his responsiblity was overwhelming and didn't leave him feeling much like pursuing a serious relationship. So Katherine had arranged that her free time in the City corresponded with his to give them chance to be together. She planned this as a surprise for him and had not checked to see if he had plans or not.
Suddenly, Katherine remembered that Jon had family in New York and began to panic when she realized that by not telling him of her plan for them, he might have made arrangements to visit his relatives.
No matter, Katherine dismissed the thought. This trip would be a good opprotunity for me to meet my future in-laws. She failed to recall that his parents had moved to Conneticut some years ago and no longer kept their penthouse in the City.
Katherine showered and grabbed a quick breakfast before loading her luggage in her car and heading for school.
Shawn had his own plans for Jon and they had begun by lining up Jon and Audrey's free time. The week before Shawn had come across Audrey's planner for the trip and had "borrowed" it while she and Jon had gone out to pick up lunch. Audrey had written the fixed plan in pen and tenative or unconfirmed ones in pencil. Luckily, chaperone free times were all in pencil and he was able to move some things around so that Jon and Audrey had all their free times together. At the time, he had thought it was a bit odd that Miss Tompkins' times all lined up with Jon's, but promptly forgot about it as he tried to match his handwriting as close to Audrey's neat, flowery script as possible. If either Jon or Audrey had noticed any scheduling changes, they hadn't say anything- neither he nor Cory had been yelled at.
The trip in general was a cause of excitement, but Shawn was especially looking forward to Friday when Jon and Audrey were taking him, and him alone, to Greenwhich Village.
The rest of the time Shawn was looking forward to hanging with Cory when Cory wasn't with Topanga. Hmmm...Shawn frowned. He may not be seeing much of his best friend after all...Oh, well.
"Well, Shawnie," Cory spread his arms out to the side with a cheesy grin in the hall of John Adam's High. "This it. We're going to take New York by storm. If we can make it there, we can make it anywhere!"
"We're taking New York by bus," Shawn told him, giving him a curious look. "And what are we making there?"
"Heh?" Cory stared at his friend, frozen with his arms open. Sometimes he and Shawn got on different wave lengths and missed each other all together.
"Are you guys seriously wearing those shirts?" Topanga wanted to know as walked up to them.
Shawn and Cory looked down at their "I love NY" shirts.
"Yeah," Shawn shrugged. "So?"
"So isn't that a little tourist-y?"
Shawn pointed to Audrey who was talking to Mr. Feeny.
"Miss Andrews doesn't think so," he said. "She definately isn't a tourist."
Topanga looked at Audrey who was wearing a white "New York Irish" T-shirt and had a black duffle bag slung over her shoulder that proclaimed "I love NY".
Topanga smiled at Shawn. "I stand corrected," she said.
The warning bell rang and the students in the hall scurried to get to their homerooms on time. Cory and Shawn helped Topanga with her luggage.
"Please tell me you didn't bring that huge trunk of hair stuff with you," Shawn pleaded.
"No," Topanga replied looking back over her shoulder at him. "I'm just going to buy what I need when I get there."
"Good," Shawn said, over-exaggerating his gratefulness by tossing his hands skyward. Even Cory looked relieved to know that there was no trunk.
Once the final bell rang, Jon wasted no time in getting things underway. After taking attendance he assigned the each student to one of six different chaperones who be in charge of a group of ten students. He and Audrey would be heading a similiar, but much smaller group themselves.
Cory, Shawn, and Topanga ended up together in Jon and Audrey's group.
"How did that happen?" Jon asked Audrey after he read off the names.
Audrey could only shrug.
Once the class was divided up, they joined the rest of their classmates out on the parking lot and found their respective chaperones.
Cory and Shawn were somewhat dismayed to find Frankie Stacchino in their group. Topanga was stunned to see Allora waiting, suitcase in hand, by Frankie.
"A-Allora?" Topanga sputtered in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"
Allora smiled, taking great delight in her friend's reaction.
"Sophomore trip to NYC," she winked. "You?"
"You're GOING?" Topanga gave cry and practical ran Cory down in order to get over to Allora.
Cory picked himself up and straightened the collor of his polo shirt. Shawn smiled at him knowingly.
"So you and me this trip?" he asked.
Cory looked at him, then at the nearly hysterical girls and back again.
"Yeah, looks like it."
Shawn was flabbergasted when Jon announced that they would staying at the Library while they were in New York. He was ready to take the first bus back to Philadelphia until their bus pulled up in front of an extravagant building that was unlike any library he had ever seen.
"The Library," Jon said with a sly grin, direct at Shawn. "Hotel that is."
Audrey took over from there and explained the rules for walking around the City once more. She gave them their room assignments before they filed off the bus according to their groups.
"This place sounds awesome!" Allora exclaimed in awe.
"It says here," Topanga said, her nose buried in a travel guide, " 'The Library Hotel in New York City is the first hotel ever to offer its guests over 1,000 volumes organized throughout the hotel by Melvil Dewey's decimal classification system. Each of the ten guest room floors in this fashionable and refined hotel honors one of the ten categories of Mr. Dewey's system, and each of the 60 rooms is uniquely adorned with a collection of books and art exploring a distinctive topic. The Library is a true "classic", offering the style, elegance and ambiance of a private club. Includes complimentary continental breakfast. The Reading Room serves complimentary continental breakfast 7:00 AM to 10:30 AM. In addition, complimentary afternoon tea, coffee, cappuccino, espresso, and cookies are always available. Imported champagne, wines, and cheese are served weekday evenings.' "
"That is so cool!" Allora shrieked, looking over Topanga's shoulder.
Cory and Shawn exchanged apprehensive looks.
After dividing up into in their groups and following their respective chaperones to their assigned rooms, Shawn seized the opprotunity to let Jon know that he was not happy about where they were staying.
"This place is going to give me nightmares," he sourly informed his teacher.
Jon rolled his eyes and turned to Audrey.
"Hey, Aud," he said, taking her arm as they walked into the lobby. "Slight change in rooms- you guys," he nodded towards Topanga and Allora, "are going to be in 700.003 instead of 700.006."
Audrey raised her eyebrows. "Oh, really? How come?"
Jon shrugged.
"Wait," Audrey stopped him. "Don't tell me you don't know why you changed rooms."
Jon held his palms out and winked at her.
Audrey let him go with a questioning look and turned to her girls.
"Shall we go unpack?"
Once the kids saw the rooms they were staying in, they didn't want to leave the hotel. Miss Tompkins group was staying on the third floor, which was deemed the Social Sciences section, in the World Culture room. Eli's group wound up on the tenth floor, General Knowledge section. He laughed when he saw the room; no doubt Jon had a hand in placing his group there. It was room number 1000.005- Journalism. Other groups found themselves on the fifth floor, Math and Science section, the Dinosaur room; the sixth floor, Technology section, Health and Beauty room; and the eleventh floor, Philosophy section, Paranormal room.
Each room had intriguing and unusual art and books dedicated solely to the topic of the room. There were so many things to explore within the rooms that the kids were unbelievably loathe to leave and begin their tour of the City.
Jon and the boys accompanied Audrey and her girls to their floor which was right below their own floor. The elevator doors chimed opened at the seventh floor.
"Which section is this?" Cory asked, glancing cautiously about the hall before stepping out of the elevator.
"The Arts," Jon answered, taking Audrey's suitcase from her before she could tell him that she was capable of carry it herself.
"What room are we looking for?" Allora glanced at Topanga, who shrugged.
"Number 700.003," Audrey replied.
Cory and Shawn started off down the hall.
"Hey, guys," Jon called after them. "Wrong way."
"Oh." Shawn and Cory exchanged sheepish looks before jogging back to the others.
"They oughta post signs so you know where you're going," Shawn commented.
Jon rolled his eyes. "They do," he said pointing the directory they were standing in front of.
"Oh." Shawn stuffed his hands in his pockets.
The room was easy to find and the boys stayed long enough to drop the girls' luggage off. Then they headed off to their room on the eighth floor, Literature section, Fiction room.
"Ooo!" Allora squealed when she saw the room. Topanga gaped at the room in awe.
Audrey merely shook her head and chuckled to herself. Jon had switched them from the Fashion Design room to the Performing Arts. Several areas of the room were dedicated to ballet.
"Oh, Audrey!" Topanga exclaimed pointing to a picture on the wall. "That dancer looks like she could be you!"
Audrey smiled in reminiscence and made a mental note to thank Jon profusely for the change.
Despite getting a late a start, the John Adams High group had a full day of activity. They took a double-decker bus on their tour of the City. Their first stop was the Empire State Building.
"Hey, Jon," Shawn called, leaning over the rail of the Observation Deck as far as the metal guard rail would allow. "Can you really make a big dent in the sidewalk by dropping a penny off of the edge?"
Jon glanced distractedly away from Frankie and his over-zealous attempt to be Allora's personal bodyguard. He saw Cory pulling a quarter out of his pocket.
"Don't even think about it!" Jon called to him.
Cory gave him a guilty look before pocketing the coin again.
Their next stop was the NY Skyride in which the group took a big-screen, motion simulated tour of New York from a bird's eye view. It was an exhilerating ride that left the kids chattering all the way to the Guggenheim Muesum.
As Jon and Audrey had anticipated, the high schoolers had little appreciation for 20th century art, particulary modern art. While most of them made fun of the abstract works, a few- like Topanga and Frankie- made a serious attempt to understand the art. Shawn, surprisingly, was absorbed in the works of Picasso and particularly taken with Jackson Pollock's "Ocean Greyness". However, he kept his more intellectual comments to himself and made degrogatory comments about the artwork with his classmates instead.
From the Guggenheim, they took a a walking tour of the Upper West Side before heading to Cafe Mozart for dinner. Cafe Mozart was a combination coffeehouse and diner, specializing in ecletic and American cuisine.
Cory squeezed into a booth with Topanga and Allora and was promptly pushed out when Frankie sat down at the opposite end to get closer to Allora. Since his seat on the floor was not quite as comfortable as it could have been, Cory stood up and brushed himself off. He then joined Shawn at a less crowded table.
Shawn didn't say anything when Cory sat down. He seemed preoccupied with his own thoughts.
"You okay?" Cory rested his chin in his hand and studied his friend seriously.
"Yeah," Shawn responded automatically, not bothering to look at Cory.
"Yeah, and I'm the king of Spain," he shot back, slightly annoyed. He knew Shawn as well as he knew himself and he knew that something was wrong.
Shawn looked at Cory now and smiled morosely. "You aren't going to leave me alone, are you?"
Cory shook his head. "Nope. I'd be a lousy friend if I did."
Despite the intense desire to sulk in his thoughts alone, Shawn greatly appriecated Cory's persistance and concern. "It's just..." Shawn paused, unconsciously twisting the napkin in his hand into a long spiral. "What if my dad calls while we're here? What if I miss the only call from him? It's been so long already."
Cory sighed. He kind of already knew that was the cause of Shawn's unease.
"I mean, he could," Cory shifted in his seat, unsure of what to say. "But if he does call Mr. Turner's and doesn't get anyone, he'll call my parents you're since over at our place a lot. Mom and Dad can find out where he is or at least tell him how to contact you here."
Shawn considered that possiblilty. "I guess you're right," he said slowly, letting go of the napkin. "Yeah, that's what'll happen." But he couldn't get over the feeling that even if his dad did call, he might not try to call again.
Katherine had excused herself from the table, giving Jon the opprotunity to talk to Audrey- and to breathe. Katherine had been shadowing his every move- every chance she got.
Audrey gave him a slightly amused look when the older woman left.
Jon glanced at her, unaware of how apparent the look of relief was on his face.
"What?"
Audrey shook her head. "Nothin'."
The barista briefly interupted them.
"I'll have a schizo coffee," Audrey said when he asked for her order. She was trying to cut back on her daily caffeine intake, but being home made her want a Espresso Macchiato or some other highly caffinated drink. So she opted for a half regular and half decaf coffee blend.
"One ristretto," Jon told him.
"Oh," Audrey commented. "Someone's going to wired like a strobe light tonight."
Jon's eyes twinkled mischievously.
"Uh-huh," he said. He leaned over closer to her. "What are you doing later?"
Audrey gave him a funny look. "How much later?"
"Eleven-thirty. Eli's going to watch the boys, so I can take a break."
"I don't have anyone to watch Allora and Topanga."
"It won't be hard to find someone."
Jon straightened up when he saw Katherine returning.
"Come to the Poetry Garden," was all he managed to say before the social studies teacher sat down.
Audrey nodded hestitantly. She accepted her espresso from the barista with a smile of gratitude, then sat back and wondered what the night would bring.
The Poetry Garden was an exquite greenhouse-like sitting room for the guest of the Library Hotel. French doors opened out onto a terrace offering a breath-taking view of the City. The night light streamed in through the windows that enclosed the space. In such a room one could truly believe that night was made for magic.
Audrey had managed to coax Mrs. O'Hara, one of the parent chaperones, into watching her girls. Mrs. O'Hara had given her an inquiring look, but had not asked why Audrey needed her to watch them.
Jon was already there, standing by the doors to the terrace, watching the thriving nightlife in the streets below.
She quietly slid next to him and said nothing. After a moment had passed, he turned slightly towards her with a hint of a smile.
"I'm glad you came," he said softly.
Audrey discovered that she had no voice, so she answered him by slipping her arm through his.
They stood there in silence, until Audrey found her voice again.
"It's so beautiful," she breathed. "Could we go onto the terrace?"
Jon smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."
There was only a lone young man standing outside with a small boom box. Muted strains of familiar song wafted through the still air .
Let's dance, put on your red shoes and dance the blues... Let's dance, to the song they're playin' on the radio...
"Someone's playing Bowie," Jon chuckled, his voice still barely above a whisper.
"One of my favorite songs," Audrey added. She, too, spoke in hushed tones as though something louder might shatter that fragile ambiance of the night.
Let's sway, while colour lights up your face... Let's sway, sway through the crowd to an empty space...
The further the evening progressed, the cooler the temperature became. Dressed only in a thin, grey button-down shirt and white capris, Audrey shivered slightly. Sensing her chill, Jon put his arms around her. Unnerved at first, Audrey wasn't sure what to do with herself. After a bit, she realxed and slipped her arms around his waist; she felt him rest his chin on the top of her head.
Let's dance, for fear your grace should fall... Let's dance, for fear tonight is all... Let's sway, you could look into my eyes...Let's sway, under the moonlight, this serious moonlight... If you say run, I'll run with you... If you say hide, we'll hide...
Because my love for you... Would break my heart in two... If you should fall into my arms and tremble like a flower...
Let's dance, put on your red shoes and dance the blues... Let's dance, to the song they're playin' on the radio... Let's sway, you could look into my eyes...
Let's sway, under the moonlight, this serious moonlight...