Tonight: 1st Avenue and 4th Street

A Youngish Woman walks down the street. She is carrying several bags, at least one of which seems really heavy. Light, misty rain.

A VERY OLD WOMAN: HHHHHAAAAAAAA-aaaaaaaaAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!
(She is leaning heavily against a fence. She has a cane.)

Youngish Woman: (stops; looks around) Yes?

Very Old Woman: Excuse me, could you help me cross the street?

Youngish Woman: (This is really too cliched for words.) Sure. Yeah, of course. (Not knowing what, precisely, to do.)

Very Old Woman: C'mere. (Gestures with cane, rather awkwardly.)

Youngish Woman: Um...kay. (Walks towards her.)

Very Old Woman: You'll have to put your bags on that side, so I can hold on.

Youngish Woman: Oh, yeah, okay. (Painfully shifts bags.) How's that?

Very Old Woman: Hold your arm stiffer, so's I can hold on. C'mon.

Youngish Woman: Oh. Like this?

(The Youngish Woman has to hunch over a bit- the Very Old Woman is much smaller than she is. This hunching, coupled with the very heavy bags gives her a curious, shuffling gait much closer to that of the Very Old Woman. They walk.)

Very Old Woman: Great. I have to go to seventh street.

(This is bad news. The Youngish Woman was only in this for the street crossing, and now she's committed to several blocks with this aged stranger leaning on her arm.)

VOW: Do you live in the neighborhood?

YW: No, I, uh, live in Brooklyn.

VOW: Oh. Which train do you take?

YW: The L. At fourteenth street.

VOW: Oh. Where do you live in Brooklyn?

YW: In Williamsburg.

VOW: That's a Polish neighborhood.

YW: Parts, yes.

VOW: Well, that's nice. Polish. Safe, huh? And you like it?

YW: I do.

VOW: Lots of Polish.

YW: And pierogis.

VOW: Oh! Yes. You like those too.

YW: Yeah...

VOW: Where are you from?

YW: Iowa.

VOW: Ireland?

YW: No...IOWA. Although, well, kind of Ireland. A few generations ago. (lame joke.)

VOW: Oh. The sweaters. They make beautiful sweaters.

YW: They do. The Aran sweaters. That's...do you knit?

VOW: The cables.

YW: Yeah.

VOW: I...I have a balcony. I live over there on fourth. I used to live on St. Marks, after I got married, in '47...we had a room, and do you know how much we paid for rent?

YW: Oh, don't...

VOW:(Stops. Looks at YW.) Seventeen dollars.

YW: OH. Wow. That's amazing.

VOW: Yes. We were on the top floor. I made sure to carry things down or up when I went, you know, so's I wasn't going up and down all day...

YW: Yeah.

VOW: And we shared a bathroom down the hall with the neighbors. But then the law changed. And you had to have your own bathroom.

YW: Hmmm....I...(Thinking of a place she looked at in the East Village not too long ago..)

VOW: Now I have a balcony. AND THE PIGEONS.

YW: Pigeons?

VOW: (in a whisper.) They SHIT all over the balcony.

YW: Oh?

VOW: All over. (Nods, bangs her cane on sidewalk for emphasis.)

YW: Are they noisy?

VOW: Yes. Very annoying. I filled a bucket the other day with water and Clor-Ax, and I scrubbed so hard at all of their SHIT. Some of the water got on the neighbor's balcony. She's Chinese. Her balcony is covered in shit, too. But now mine's clean. Hers is covered in SHIT. (Gives the YW a meaningful look which the YW cannot decipher.)

YW: Oh.

VOW: I scrubbed and scrubbed.

YW: Uh-huh.

VOW: I'm going to meet my friend at MacDonald's. I heard it was supposed to rain later.

YW: I heard that too. It's getting...

VOW: I'm Rose, by the way.

YW: Oh. Nice to meet you Rose. I'm Jordan.

Rose: Nice to meet you too. Thanks for helping me. I shout and yell, and so many people just run away.

Jordan: Oh...

Rose: It's like they think they'll never get old.

Jordan: (forced laugh, thinking of mortality.)

Rose: (stops. Another meaningful look.) I'm eighty-four.

Jordan: Well, you....

Rose: Maaaaaaaarrrrrriiiiieeeeeeee! There's my friend. Maaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiieeeeeee!!!!

Jordan: Oh...

Rose: Where are you going?

Woman across the street: (Unintelligible)

Rose: Hang on! (to jordan) That's my friend. She's a holy-roller. You can't imagine. Maaarrriiiieee! Stay there! We're coming over!

(The two women shuffle across the street to meet Marie and another woman.)

Marie: Oh, God bless you, young lady.

Jordan: Oh, it's fine- no problem...

Other woman: God bless, God bless...

Rose: (gives another meaningful look to Jordan) Thank you, very much. No one else stopped...

Jordan: (shifting bags off of her very sore shoulder) It's fine. Really, no problem. Have a good night....

(Jordan walks away amidst repeated thank you and God blesses, feeling proud of herself.)