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Tile, scarce, lieu–three word Wednesday on Wednesday night–fiction

February 28, 2007 By pia

Bone supplies the words. I make up more rules. 250 words. I add a sort of theme based on one word. Tonight it was “scarce.”

July 1977

Janie was sweating. The subway from Queens hadn’t been air conditioned, had contained many people from all different countries who apparently ate food that left odors on their sweating skin that went to their shirts or blouses.

Stinky un-air conditioned subway that had been stuck underground for half hour. Janie wanted to die. She arched her body onto the cool tiled subway wall, and looked at the filthy subway tile floor.

Janie thought about how pretty the subway tile would be if it wasn’t encrusted in many layers of black dirt. Damn subway, damn city, damn Son of Sam who wrote to Jimmy Breslin, and targeted long haired brunette girls like her. Janie and her boyfriend lived on Dartmouth Street in Forest hills Gardens just a few blocks from a killing.

Tomorrow they were going to Springs, East Hampton until September. Brunette girls were becoming scarce in the city. Her boss had gladly agreed to give her extra time office in lieu of pay. Janie reminded him of his daughter who was visiting friends in Greece at his insistence. How crazy was that? Every girl’s parents seemed to insist that they take time off from their jobs, even if they lived in Manhattan. Nobody felt safe.

It wasn’t 9 AM and the temperature was above 80. While Janie walked the four blocks two avenues to her overly air-conditioned office she wondered if he would ever be caught. This wasn’t the way she wanted an extended vacation.

248 Words

Filed Under: Fiction

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my life; the true beginning »

Comments

  1. sage says

    March 1, 2007 at 10:31 am

    Pia, you had me holding my nose and wanting to go wash up, reading the description of the subway.

  2. TonyG says

    March 1, 2007 at 11:00 am

    I agree. That first paragraph especially had me smelling onions and all sorts of nasty odors.

    They really should powerwash that tile.

  3. Al says

    March 1, 2007 at 12:57 pm

    Nice work today, Pia — words well-spent. But, just so you know, you’ve gotten yourself kicked off the NYC Tourist Bureau again with this post.

    The incredible thing to me, given your excellently evocative and super-accurate description of a NY subway during the “dog days,” is that people actually eat while riding on them. Ewww.

    I once saw a guy, through the corner of my eye, eat an ice cream cone while standing next to me, in full “business” pose, in a men’s room. Shea Stadium. Mets fan. Figures.

  4. Pia savage says

    March 1, 2007 at 2:16 pm

    Sage, TonyG–but did you like the story?

    Al–the story took place in 1977 when subways were often not air conditioned, subways were a mess and there was a serial killer on the lose

    The subways today are clean,and usually function well

  5. Al says

    March 1, 2007 at 2:51 pm

    😉 *Wink wink* Oh, Pia, I get it…

    You forget to mention the oak-paneled stations with the crystal chandeliers… Oh, and don’t forget those free rush-hour back massages!

    (You’re back on the Tourist Bureau. In fact, you’re President. So, you have to bring donuts to the meetings.)

  6. Pia savage says

    March 1, 2007 at 3:23 pm

    Thanks Al just to be explanatory as I seem to be lacking in that department today

    The word scarce made me think of scarce commodities, then the image of brunettes being scarce or trying to be scarce that summer popped into my head

    To further clarify Son of Sam never killed in Manhattan where I did and do live

    But I worked in Queens, and nobody knew where he would strike next so everybody was scared

    No matter how hot future summers become that will always be the hottest to me. I didn’t have AC–didn’t usually need it or like it–and they were expensive

    The city was at its nadir, but I will always remember that time with awe. Not just because it was my youth but because there were so many affordable things to do

  7. actonbell says

    March 1, 2007 at 9:30 pm

    Rabbit, rabbit! I’m off to see the roast, finally…

  8. cooper says

    March 1, 2007 at 10:56 pm

    The words produce a kind of life of there own do they not.

    What are you going to do for redesign/ clean-up?

  9. FreshlyRoastedBone says

    March 2, 2007 at 12:57 am

    I actually wound up on an unairconditioned subway car (do you call them cars?) from Manhattan to Coney Island in July.

    And even that did not compare to the heat I felt today 🙂

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About Me

I live in the South, not South Florida, a few blocks from the ocean, and two blocks from the main street. It's called Main Street. Amazes me too.

I'm from New York. I mostly lived in the Mid-Upper East Side, and the heart of the Upper West Side. It amazes me when people talk about how scared they were of Times Square in the 1970's and 1980's.

As my mother said: "know the streets, look out and you'll be fine."

What was scary was the invasion of the crack dens into "good buildings in good 'hoods." And the greedy landlords who did everything they could to get good tenants out of buildings.

I'm a Long Island girl, and proud of it now.
Then I hated everything about the suburbs. Yet somehow I lived in a few great Long Island Sound towns after high school.

Go to archives "August 2004" if you want to begin with the first posts.

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