Trying to strike a New Yorker pose in Midtown
Prologue-Originally this piece was part of a larger one about my love affair with New York City and my adopted neighborhoods of Inwood and Washington Heights. One day I was reading the “ New York Times,” Readers Write Section. Me…in the “New York Times,” REALLY?? NO WAY!!! Then, the words of my dear friend, Anna Marti, popped into my head, “If you don’t ask, the answer is always, “No.” The submission requirements were these; two hundred words or less and an experience you had living in New York City. It goes without saying, I never heard from them. Still, I felt the fear and did it anyway. I feel good about that.Payson Avenue-Isham Park is next to it.I always wanted to be a New Yorker. Finally I got my wish. By chance I found an ad on Craigslist for a cat/apartment sitter in Inwood. I answered it and to my surprise I was hired.Weeks later, I was standing in front of an apartment building on Payson Avenue. Pam, my landlady greeted me. Under a mop of brown curls, she was smiling. While she was overseas for operatic voice training, I was to care for “Princess Blanche.”Pam-My landlady, Blanche’s Mommy and my dear, friend.At first Blanche was wary. I sat beside her. Time passed. At last she nuzzled and licked my hand.We became best friends. Blanche slept in the curve of my arm. When she wanted breakfast, she would meow and tap me gently on the cheek. We played endlessly. Everything was a cat toy. She helped answer email by mischievously leaping onto my laptop. She loved her fountain. At night we sat listening to the rippling water. Both of us enjoyed the tranquility it brought.In spite of the fact she was on a strict diet, Blanche loved deli food. In the beginning I resisted her demands, but eventually I gave in. At first she sat on the floor, then a chair and finally on the table. Her manners were impeccable.Cheesecake was Blanche’s favorite. Occasionally I had to wipe the leftovers from her face. I always said “Please don’t tell your Mom about this.” I doubt she ever did.Blanche-The Diva and loving friend.Her memory is a part of a perfect Inwood spring that will always be so special.
