Greenpoint is a bit of a shithole. In spite of the shoreline location the neighborhood cannot seem to figure itself out. The closer you get to the shore, the more likely you are to find nicer apartments and stores. Worse people though. Once when I was still going to school, I tried to make the case that the quantity of terrible people increases in inverse proportion to the wealth of the area. That argument didn’t fly too well in the private school I was bussed to everyday. After a while they stopped bussing me–exceptional talent or not. That was fine. It was better to be around the people who made me feel safe. I’d rather be beat up for being smart than poor. At least when you fight back for being smart they respect you afterwards.
I pulled up my collar and shoved my hands deep into my pocket. Walking the eleven blocks from the train to my crappy third story wasn’t fun during a cold snap. New York was in the midsts of the freakiest weather she’d seen in decades. The folks at Columbia though it was tied to magical phenomenon, likely off shore and blowing the strange weather towards us. I just thought it was hard to keep up. One day it would fall to single digits, the next it was mid 70s and humid. It brought a twisted new meaning to in like a lion and out like a lamb. Apparently the lion and the lamb were chasing each other in circles now.
As I walked I thought about the job. Naga Johnson needed me to get into the place where her kid was being worked on and make sure he was safe. The way she had it set up was to get me on the list as a patient there, so I would be allowed into the clinic at the same time he was getting his work done. Why me? Well, it had to be the eyes.
Some Thoughts:
- I did not get to finish the last chapter due to time constraints, so 4 here is really just an extension. in fact, the so-called chapter numbers are more akin to the time spent. day 4 vs chapter, etc…