By now two things have become apparent to me: 1) I’m being called Miss again instead of Maam. I love it. I can feel the years melting from my face. 2) I’ve learned not to make eye contact with anyone. Making eye contact means you will be approached by someone trying to sell you something.
Never was soliciting as bold and brazen as in Chinatown. On
day four we decided to take a sightseeing tour bus which allows riders to get
off wherever they want to explore. We got off at several places, but the one
that’ll be forever etched into memory is Chinatown. Once we stepped foot in Chinatown
we accosted by people trying to sell watches. I’d walk by a store and they’d
shout, “Watches, you want watches.” I’d walk with eyes down to avoid contact,
yet they’d approach me and whisper in my ear, “Watch, you need watch?” I’d get people motioning me into their store
loudly proclaiming, “Watches, you get watch here.” What is it with watches? Don’t
they have something else to sell? Don’t they have fortune cookies?
When we crossed over into Little Italy I figured we were
safe as we left the land of watches. The first store we went in was run by
Chinese people and a large display of watches sat on the front counter. I ran…
all the way to an Italian bakery where we stopped for dessert. As we ate, a
fashion photo shoot took place outside. Thanks to our window seat we were able
to see the whole thing.
Watching it I thought how nice to be a model. If the wind
blew one hair on her head, someone combed it. If she talked and smudged her
lipstick, someone fixed her pucker. When she turned and got a wedgie, someone
pulled it out for her. I don’t know if I’d want the job of ‘official wedgie
remover.’ How much can the job pay? Not enough.
That night, watching our last Broadway play, Jersey Boys,
when I looked at my watch, I thought back to Chinatown and thought no amount of
watches could have stopped time and the play from ending to soon. It was my
favorite play and seemed to have flown by.
Our entire trip seemed to go by in the blink of an eye;
except for the time we were stuck in LaGuardia airport. I’ll tell you tomorrow.
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