Halloween on 68th and Lex

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Especially in NYC, it's crazy fun. Last year's Halloween was epic. And, at an event on the 30th-- a showing of Nosferatu accompanied by the organ at St. John the Divine followed by a parade of ghouls-- I met my last ex-boyfriend. He happened to be a successful horror novelist, and the poetry of our meeting was not lost on either of us. After the event,  he went with me and two of my best friends to eat in the village. He asked me out at the end of the night, near 3 a.m.  The next night, the 31st, I went to the Halloween Parade with my two friends. We dressed up, looked fabulous and marched in the parade. We topped off the night with a midnight  meal of Thai food near Washington Square.  Our costumes were so good that a dozen or so people stopped us to take our picture. 

Back to this year. I needed to keep things low key because I haven't been feeling well. My friends came up from Philadelphia again on the 29th to attend the event at St. John's.  We had dinner at the 2nd Avenue Deli which is no longer on 2nd Avenue.  At the cathedral, they showed the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.  It's a  truly creepy and fun experience.  It was also good for me to get past the one year anniversary of meeting my ex-boyfriend.  There was the possibility of running into him, but it didn't happen.  It feels good to get past this milestone. 

Saturday, my friends went to DC for the John Stuart rally. I went to a costume party.  I had a fun.  Spent a lot of time flirting. Mostly with the guy dressed as a lesbian zombie Puerto Rican drag queen. I asked him for a lap dance and got one for free. An odd, but cute, geek boy followed me around most of the night. He dressed as the Cobra from G.I. Joe.  You gotta love horror movie fans.  The winners of the costume contest were the girl dressed as the Shark-topus, the drag queen, and a girl dressed as the heroine from Audition (a Japanese horror film). 

The real excitement came after the party. I wanted to leave about 1:30.  I walked outside and dug into my bag for my car keys.  They were not there.  I frantically dug and dug in the bottom of the bag. No keys. I must have locked them in my car! Crap!  This is not a rare thing for me. I keep an extra key in my purse for that reason. But I had switched purses for the party. And my AAA membership expired a month ago.  This left me with two options: Call a locksmith and pay about $100 that I didn't have. Or, go home on the bus, get my extra key at home and come back to the upper east side the next day to retrieve my car. I chose B.

I walked to my car, then realized that my apartment keys were also locked inside. This meant that if I went home, 'd be locked out of my building and my apartment. At this time of night,  I couldn't get the old lady landlord to let me in. option B was no good.  I stayed calm. I walked into a nearby parking garage and asked the attendant if he had a slimjim. Of course he said 'No', whether he had one or not. I saw a cop across the street and asked him if he had a slimjim. He was sympathetic and flirty.  That meant my zombie makeup wasn't as effective as I thought. He went to check his car.  He returned to say none of the police carried slimjims anymore.  He offered to let me use his phone.  But I didn't have anyone to call. 

At this point, I began to get upset and felt sorry for myself. I am 34 years old and still getting into stupid messes like this.  I was sick of it.  I should have had someone to call.  No roommates, no boyfriend, no family.  It was pathetic.  What kind of a life was  this?  I decided to walk back to the party.  I might as well wait there as wait inside the vestibule of my building.  And maybe someone would let me crash at their place. 

I returned to find 3 men at the doorway.  They cheered that I had come back. (aww). I told them what happened and they all went into action.  Inside they asked if anyone had a slimjim or could help me by breaking into my car.  Everyone was worried.  That's when I stopped feeling sorry for myself,  it was very touching.  I picked up a donut and sat at the bar as my rescuers worked the crowd.  A few minutes later, they told me the guy in the butcher costume had AAA and would let me use it.  YAY!!!  I called them and spent 45 minutes on hold, then they told me they'd send someone within an hour.  So I would had to wait by my car.

Off I went out into the cold again.  My car was parked on 68th and Lex.  There's the Hunter College subway station on that corner with a nice bench so I plopped myself down.  I spent most of that hour plotting my future.  I was not going to be alone like this anymore.  I was not going to keep getting into problems like this.  I was done being single and sorry.  From now on, I would have someone to call. 

The temperature was in the 50s and I had on a nightgown wrapped in a thin pashmina.  The night was clear and very crispy.  A lot of Halloween revelers passed by on their way in and out of the subway.  Mostly couples, of course. Most of the women were in slutty costumes with very high heels and very short skirts.  At about 10 minutes to 4,  two guys walked up the street. They gave each other a hug and said goodbye with some jeering.  One came ambling over to the station stairs but he stopped.  He turned to the bench and sat down on the other end from me.   I was on the phone to AAA asking why they hadn't come yet since it had been an hour.  The truck was on it's way.  The guy played with his iphone.

When I hung up, he said my shawl looked cozy.  I replied that it wasn't as warm as it looked. He continued to chat me up.  He was very charming.  We exchanged names.  He asked about my costume, and said it was poetic. (I was undead Ophelia post-drowning).  He asked why I was sitting there.  He said he was  contemplating his ride back to Brooklyn and enjoying the night air.  Then he said I had a very nice smile, it was so warm. He beamed at me. "You know, if we had known each other for a week already, and were sitting on this bench like this, I would kiss you.  This would be my moment, here, on this night."  I was surprised. Then he said, "But, we don't know each other, so it would be weird."  I said, "Yes, it would be weird.  But romantic."  he agreed.  "Very romantic."  

He was encouraged. I looked at him.  He was good-looking, light brown hair, blue eyes and a beautiful smile with good teeth.  He said, "Maybe some day we'll be able to kiss."  I smiled, realizing that  I might actually get a date out of this conversation.  Hussy that I am,  I encouraged him some more. "That would be nice."   We smiled at each other for a minute.  He slid over to me, closed his eyes and puckered up an inch from my mouth.  Why not?  I puckered up and leaned into him.  He had big, soft lips.  It was a sweet kiss  Then he slid away again.  I asked him if he wanted my number. Yes. He slid back over and we kissed some more.  We cuddled up against the cold. When he picked me up and put me on his lap I told him that he owed me dinner.  He said he'd cook for me. 

Then he asked if I really wanted to see him again. I said yes, we'd have dinner if he called me.  "If, if?  What, you don't trust me? "  "No, I don't know you." "You're right."  Then we kissed until the Tow truck came.  He held my hand.  I didn't let things get too crazy because I didn't know him and I had to keep an eye out for the truck. When it came, he didn't want me to leave.  But it was after 4 and I had waited for 2 hours.  He said he felt used.  I told him he'd get over it and he should call me.  We had a nice goodbye hug.  I went home elated.  It was a lovely end to a dramatic evening.  

The parallel with last year is odd, that I met a man at the same date and time as I did last year.  

Only in New York City would something like this happen.  Making out with a hot stranger on the street corner at 4 a.m.  It was exactly what I  needed.  I don't know if he'll call me, probably not.  Which is fine.  But it'd be nice if he did. Not an epic Halloween, I let my friends go to the parade without me on Sunday.  Most definitely a very nice and very New York Halloween.