Spring in central park was often
a mixed bag of beauty and squalor. On the one hand, the scenery was usually
very pretty, with the trees covered in leaves and about to bloom, the snow
finally melting off into the reservoirs, and the birds migrating back to their
homes for the summer. On the other hand, the warmer weather brought with it a
trail of scraggly-looking vagabonds hoping to live in the park, eager
dog-walkers who weren’t so eager to pick up after their yappy Chihuahuas, and
loud, obnoxious preteens riding the skateboards down the paths clearly marked
with “No skateboarding.” Plus, most of the birds in Central Park were magpies
and pigeons, who nobody really wanted to look at anyway.
At
the moment, two ladies, mid-thirties in business attire strolled, rather
hurriedly, through the park. The one on the right wore a crisp black pencil
skirt with a white blouse, and carried a smart leather briefcase in her hand.
Her hair was up and her sharp black glasses threatened to reach the end of her
nose. The other had long, red hair and had a bright pink Kate Spade purse
hanging off her shoulder, which she clutched closely to her body as she power
walked through the trees.
“Honestly,
Pat, you should come out with us tonight,” said the redhead. “It’ll be fun.”
The
woman on the right sighed. “I don’t know Kathy, I’ve got so much work to do –”
“Excuses,
excuses,” said Kathy, waving her arms in the air. “I know Dave would really love for you to be there.”
“By
the time you get there, Dave will be too drunk to notice if I came with you or
not,” Pat pointed out. “Besides, we barely even know him.”
“We
were invited personally,” Kathy remarked with an air of mock offense.
“He
invited the entire office,” Pat reminded her.
“Oh,
don’t be such a downer,” said Kathy. She paused, and her eyes lit up. “Hey,
look!”
Pat
turned her head to see the cause of Kathy’s distraction. It turned out to be a
cart laden with dozens of colorful flowers, monitored by a bored-looking,
pimply East Indian kid in his early twenties.
“It’s
just flowers,” said Pat, but Kathy had already walked up to the stall and was
perusing the selection of slightly wilted daisies and chrysanthemums.
“I
swear there’ll be someday that you don’t stop by one of these carts, but today
obviously is not it,” Pat said, rolling her eyes, but she waited for Kathy
anyway.
Kathy
chose a mismatched bouquet with spots of green, yellow, orange and blue, and
handed a ten-dollar-bill to the kid. “Hey, if no one else is going to buy me flowers,
might as well treat myself,” she said, plucking a carnation out of the stack
and giving it to Pat. She grabbed the flower instinctually, though as Kathy
started to walk away she realized she had absolutely no need for one carnation that
had obviously seen better days, and casually tossed it in the trash.
“See?
You’re just no fun,” Kathy said once Pat caught up to her, noticing her empty
hands. They were nearing the edge of the park.
“I’m serious.
You need to get out more,” she continued. The two women arrived at the curb
just as the number thirty-seven pulled up to the edge of the sidewalk. Pat
rolled her eyes and stepped on to the bus. “We’ll see,” she said.
“Yes!” Kathy
exclaimed. “I’ll see you tonight!” she yelled as the doors started to close. “Remember,
Pat, gold is where you find it!”
