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15: “Little Apartment in the Big City”
Their father had been out on an errand and arrived home shortly after the “Uncle Bill” incident. They both got in trouble-----Reynolds for leaving Ali alone, and Ali for talking to a stranger.
“What was the first thing I told you two?” demanded their father. “The Buddy System!” he said loudly as he looked first at Reynolds and then at Ali. “We’re here one week, and now this,” he said shaking his head in disapproval.
“Come on both of you, let’s see if we can find this creep,” said their angry father. “Maybe it was a good thing,” he said turning to Ali. “It’s a lesson. Don’t ever let someone touch you like that, you understand?”
“Yes, Daddy” said Ali with her lip trembling and on the verge of tears.
“No tears, Pumpkin. I want you to be safe. Be aware of where you are and who is around you, understand?”
“Yes, Daddy.” Ali felt she had disappointed her father.
They all quickly left the hotel and hurried toward the park to find “Uncle Bill”. “These creeps keep moving around wherever the kids are,” said their father, clearly upset. They walked all around looking for the old man, but never found him.
When Caroline returned to the hotel, she was told the whole story.
“Are you OK, honey,” she quickly said to Ali.
“I’m fine mother,” she said while fidgeting in the chair by the table.
“And you, young man. What did I tell you this morning?” she fumed at her son.
“You told me to stay with Ali and go straight to school-----and we did,” replied Reynolds trying to wiggle out of his predicament.
“Don”t be smart with me, mister,” Caroline said to Reynolds.
“You let them walk alone to school on their first day?” George said to his wife.
“We were running late----”
“Running late? You’re always running late. You need to prepare ahead of time, especially with the kids, and----”
“Don’t tell me about raising the kids, George. You’re never home and are in no position----”
It went on like that. Neither George nor Caroline were listening to each other. Both were feeling guilty about what happened. Ali and Reynolds sat at the table listening to them bicker, and started thinking how different everything was from what they thought it would be. Ali imagined her family being together would be like the pictures in the Dick and Jane books, or the families on television where they all seemed to be smiling and having a good time. Reynolds didn’t like his father being unhappy with him. His father hadn’t been around for a long time and now he was always telling him what to do and getting mad at him. He got rid of that creepy, old “Uncle Bill” and rescued Ali, but no one seemed to remember that part.
October soon arrived and the family moved into the Osgood Apartments. It was much nicer than the Hotel Preston. There was an awning extending from the apartment entrance to the street. A man in a uniform opened the big front door for the adults, but if it was just Ali and Reynolds coming home from school, he didn’t bother. Just inside of the building, there were beautiful tiles and stone covering everything---the walls---the floor---the ceiling! There was also a second set of doors that opened to the most fantastic lobby Ali had ever seen, certainly a thousand times prettier than the one at the Hotel Preston. It looked like something in the movies. The colors were mostly red and gold, and there were lots of angelic looking cherubs painted on the high ceilings. An enormous gold clock with Roman numerals hung in the center of the lobby.
“Which way do we go, Mother?” Ali asked when they first stepped into the lobby. Reynolds was with his father at the theater.
“Your father said to go to the left side and take the elevator to the 7th floor.”
“But there’s an elevator over on that side, too,” said Ali. Just then a man who had heard them talking looked down at Ali and said, “Oh, no, that’s my elevator, you can’t take my elevator little girl.” He laughed heartily, and then hurried out the front door of the lobby.
The lady at the front desk asked Ali’s mother if she knew the man who had just spoken to Ali.
“You mean the fellow with the gray curly hair who told us not to use his elevator? He was just joking with Ali,” said Caroline.
“Why that is Mr. Leonard Bernstein, the great musician and conductor.”
“You don’t say? I’ll have to tell my husband when I see him later,” said Caroline as she and Ali walked toward the elevator on the left side of the lobby.
“Mother can I use the stairs?” begged Ali “All the way to the 7th floor?” her mother said incredulously.
“I’ll bet I can beat you up there!” said Ali, ready for the challenge.
“Well, the elevator isn’t here yet. Go ahead. See if you can get some of that stored up energy used up before bedtime,” said her mother.
Ali took off up the stairs, holding onto the beautiful mahogany railing and jumping by leaps and bounds, skipping several steps at a time as she ascended the elegant staircase. First floor. Second Floor. Third Floor. Ali briefly looked down at the large leather chair on the ground floor where the elevator man sat in between rides. She was breathing hard, but pressed on. 4th Floor. 5th Floor. 6th Floor. Just as she reached the 7th floor, the elevator door opened and out came her mother.
“A tie!” said Ali, very proud of herself, but also very winded. Now it was time to find their apartment door: 7Q. There were doors everwhere. Ali once again thought of her favorite book, when Alice encountered a hallway full of doors. “There it is, Honey,” down that long hallway. This is your new home,” said Caroline to her daughter as she turned the key and entered their apartment.
The apartment was a very different place to live than their house on River Street. It looked out over several buildings toward Central Park. Way in the distance of the enormous park you could see a castle. Ali decided that one day she and Reynolds would be explorers and walk all the way to the castle. In the living room, there was enough room for a sofa with a hideaway bed inside, a chair, a small television set and a small dining table by a little side window. There was also an upright piano (that Madame Fifi had left behind when she moved) with a record player sitting on top of it. Long reddish-colored drapes hung on each side of the big window that faced the park with a built-in radiator underneath the window to keep the apartment warm during the winter months. The floors were made of beautiful little squares of wood and had large rugs with swirling red, black and gold designs on them.
As Ali explored each room, she thought that they were all very small, but cozy. In the bedroom that she and Reynolds would be sharing, she immediately placed Smokey Bear on her bed. Reynolds eventually posted a note on his side of the room that said “No Trespassing” (targeted mainly at his little sister). The bathroom had tiny, white five-sided tiles on the floor and a bathtub that sat up off the floor and had claws like some strange animal. Ali carefully lifted the toilet seat to check for alligators several times, and the good news was that there weren’t any, at least not yet. And in the kitchen----Ali definitely felt like “the big Alice” in her book when standing in there. You could use the sink, open the oven door, and turn around and sit at a table without moving more than one step!
Their first night at the Osgood took one bad turn when Ali went to the kitchen to get a glass of milk before going to bed and switched on the light. Three big, black bugs crawled very quickly along the walls to their hiding place behind the warm stove. Ali shrieked. Her mother came running.
“Grandma Agnes was right about the bugs,” Ali said as she hurriedly left the kitchen and lost interest in getting any milk.
Everyone settled into their routine: school for the kids; working in the office across the street for Caroline; and singing in the show late at night for George. When Ali and Reynolds returned from school, they were to do their homework first, and then watch television if they wanted to. After that they were allowed, on the Buddy
r /> System, to go to the park or to The Drug Store where they were given a little money to buy a soda or candy bar.
The Drug Store, just around the corner, became a home away from home. As soon as they entered the store, the looked at the candy counter, then looked at their money and decided what was in their budget for the day. Sometimes it was a candy bar, and sometimes it was a shared soda at the fountain.
The lady at the cash register in front was very abrupt at first saying things like, “I haven’t got all day kids, make up your mind, is it a candy bar or a soda today?” But, after a few visits to the store, they noticed that she seemed a little friendlier. On one of their first visits to the lunch counter, back when they were living at the Hotel Preston, their mother had asked for coffee from the man who worked behind the fountain. She then asked for cream and sugar a short time later.
“Lady, if you want cream and sugar, ask for it right away! You guys talk funny,” said the man behind the counter to their mother.
“Really? Well, we’re from California,” responded Caroline in her usual, friendly manner.
“That explains everything,” the man said as her turned and walked away. Ali wasn’t sure what that meant, but thought it was odd that he thought that they talked funny. If anyone talked funny. it was most of the people she was meeting in New York City.