new york, new york

chapter 69

-Good morning. You seem to slept well, Tina said as I walked in. She was sitting in the middle of the living room playing with Midge. Maggie was out of sight.
-Pretty well, yeah. Some fireworks awakened me in the night but I soon got back to sleep.
-That�s nice. There is some coffee in the kitchen. You can take what you want for breakfast. Bread is beside the fridge and everything else you probably find from it.
-Thanks.
I went to the kitchen and looked around. I soon noticed coffee maker but couldn�t find a cup.
-Are there any stores open today? I yelled to Tina.
-Some grocery stores yes. What do you need?
-I was thinking about decorating my place little. Would need some pillows and stuff like that.
-I guess you�ll have to wait till tomorrow. We can check my supplies first.
-Sure! Umm... Do you have any clean dishes?
-Oh, check from the machine.
Just then I realized that the white thing was dishing machine. I opened it and it was full of clean cups and mugs and plates.
-Found any?
-Yeah, thanks.
-Do yourself a sandwich and come sit here so we can chat at the same time.
-OK!

Midge didn�t wonder at all me bringing my breakfast into living room so I figured that it was common way to eat in that household. I placed my mug to the side table and sat down. Midge looked at me for a while and started to brush her doll�s hair again.
-Midge doesn�t speak much. I guess Maggie and me do that enough.
-Where�s she?
-Maggie? She went to the neighbor to play.
-Oh.
-So what would you like to have for your room?
-Well, curtains would be nice.
-I have some.
-And new cover for the bed. And some pillows. And new dishes, at least the same color. And I was thinking about painting the toilet. If that�s OK with you?
-In what time did you decide all this? Tina asked laughing.
-Just in about ten minutes before I got here.
-You�re fast. When you�ve finished with your breakfast I�ll show you what I have. I might even have some paint in some corner.
You can call me narrow-minded but Tina�s apartment didn�t really convince me that she could have anything useful for me. But I didn�t want to be rude so I just nodded and bit another bite from my sandwich.

-These I brought from my childhood home, Tina told while spreading fabrics in front of me. I kept fingering those. They were marvelous! Well, not all of them. She seemed to have saved everything from the 60�s to date. And especially 80�s gave me creeps. I would not want yellow curtains with pink and neon green geometric patterns. But some of them really got my attention.
-These were in my parents� bedroom.
She showed me white fabric with big red patterns.
-I think they had matching bed cover with this. Hold on.
She bowed to search it from that big box. Soon she stood up again.
-Oh I wish I�d have time to decorate this house a little, she sighed. -We moved here three years ago when I divorced from my husband. Nothing dramatic, we just didn�t fit for each other anymore. But in that time I was little disappointed and got this place. This is little too big and little too expensive for us. So I do some extra work sometimes. But I�ve paid loan so long, kids love this, I love this that we just can�t move away from here.
-I understand.
-So do you have your own place back in Finland?
-No, not anymore. I�ve been most of my time in here.
-Yeah, that�s what I�ve heard. So where did you live previously?
-At some friends, I said in inexactly.
-This is really hard town to find a decent place to live with little money.
-So I was lucky again, I grinned.
-Next two weeks will show that to you. Maybe we are not the kind of family you should live next to.
-I think I can handle you. Anyway it�s only two months.
-Yeah. So would any of these do?
-I could try those, I pointed those red patterned curtains. -And that cover too.
-OK, Tina said and gathered those into her arms. -Let�s go try them out.
On our way she took Midge with us. That little girl didn�t say anything during the time we tried, then ironed and hanged up the curtains.

But in two hours the place had got whole new look.
-I know I�m a collector and I save so much so unworthy, but don�t you think you got some treasures?
-Yes, indeed.
Curtains and the cover made room so much livelier. We had also found white pillows and big, old, furry carpet. It was still hanging out on the balcony because it was really dusty. Bulb had got a red shade (making the room look like Reeberban) and one smaller lamp next to the bed. For the desk we couldn�t do anything but in my small hall was standing two tiny cans filled with red paint, for my toilet.
-I was going to paint Maggie�s room, Tina had told me. -But then I read somewhere that red is really aggressive color. And I thought that my girl wouldn�t need anything to encourage her. So I�ve kept this in a closet for a year. It should be still fine, try it somewhere like behind the toilet before painting the whole thing.
All I wanted to do was to drive Tina and Midge out so I could start to work but I was again too polite to resist when Tina suggested lunch.

-Oh I forgot to tell you that Jacob called yesterday before you came. He said you should call him today and visit him, if he�s not having too heavy hangover, Tina said when serving french fries and hot dogs. I made mark on my imagined pad: eat your own food or you�ll swell.
-I�ll call him right after we�ve eaten.
I remembered the pictures I had hard tried to forget. Hullabaloo back in Finland wasn�t just that one article. Both daily �entertaining newspapers� had taken a stand in my situation, even if I didn�t. I couldn�t use my own phone because someone was constantly trying to reach me and I had to keep telling him or her �no comment�. That�s what I told my parents to say. I told them briefly that I�ve met those guys but there�s nothing to gossip about. Especially my mother wasn�t satisfied with that explanation but I told her that by the time I�d get back it would be all forgotten. But if they were researching attentively, they would probably find same material Jacob was holding. So it was better to get know that in time.
-Did Jacob leave his number? I asked after listening 20 minutes Tina�s and home returned Maggie�s fight about vegetables.
-No, it�s on short dials, number 5.
I took the phone, pushed five and after few clicks I heard as the number was selected. At the same time I investigated the list that showed names behind the short dials. First was �grandma�, second �mom work�, then �daycare�, �Caroline� (Tina�s friend?) and already then �Jacob� before �Chinese�, �Italian�, �American� and �Merrill�, maybe her ex-husband. Jacob answered after seven rings.
-Yeah? his voice was lower because I had obviously wakened him up.
-Good morning! I said as cheerful as I could. -Or should I say good afternoon? It is already past 1 pm.
-Why did you have to come back to town? Jacob murmured.
-Because. So you have something you want to show me?
-Only if you tell me something more. I�m kind of blocked right now. I get ambiguous information all the time. Some of that considers you too.
-Me?
-You�d better come over. Where are you? At Tina�s?
-Yes.
-Great. That leaves me enough time to clean up a little. See you soon.
I turned to see Tina who was gathering dishes from the table. Girls had gone to watch telly, it was only noice in the apartment. I was still holding the phone set.
-I don�t even know his address and he says see you soon, I wondered at Tina.
-Don�t worry. I�ll show you the way.

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