Beach water

After receiving the unknown letter, she feels she needs to put her mind at ease. She decides to go to the beach. It’s cloudy outside and the weatherman said it’s going to rain. She doesn’t care. She grabs her raincoat and tote bag, and heads out. As she walks towards the train station, someone bumps into her. Without hesitation, she yells back at the teen male saying, “Hey watch it next time!” When she goes into her pocket for her metro card, it’s not there. “Dammit!” she yells aloud and walks over to the metro card vending machine. She buys a new card and proceeds to the turnstile. With her face frowned, she walks down the stairs passing by a group of giggling teenage girls. She looks over at them and keeps going. One girl yells out, “Whatcha looking at chick, I know she ain’t lookin’ at me!” She ignores her. Already annoyed by the metro card incident, she isn’t in the mood for confrontation. 

“Ladies and gentleman, the Brooklyn bound F train is being delayed due to a police investigation. Please be patient.” Everyone on the platform begins yelling profane words and sucking their teeth. She shares the same sentiments. Twenty minutes later, the F train arrives and she gets on. She stands for a few minutes until a seat is available. The people aren’t that diverse. Many young people dressed in baggy attire or tight fitting clothing. Most of the women are dressed in short shorts with their bathing suit tops exposed, few have jackets on. Most of the guys are dressed in blue jeans and white T-shirts. A panhandler comes on from one stop, and begins asking for money. He is a “starving artist” he says. She gives him a dollar and he says, “God bless you sis.” After a few stops, more families with their children get on as well as different nationalities of people. It's interesting the way a train ride changes as it proceeds through stops, she thinks to herself. There is no music played, many passengers aren’t listening to anything. She listens to her iPod. Erykah Badu’s Window Seat is playing through her earphones.

As the train gets closer to her stop, she moves to a window seat. There are fewer passengers at this time. Where did everyone go? She looks out the window and it does look cloudy as the weatherman predicted. She hopes it doesn’t rain; she needs to go by the water. The train arrives at the last stop. She gets off, and finds her way through the maze of this train station. Once outside, she smells the rich flavor of hazelnut coffee and donuts. How tempted she is to buy something. She keeps walking. When she gets to the boardwalk, she hears club music playing and sees a lady dancing. It’s a small crowd surrounding the dancer. The deejay is saying “Ahh yeah!” into the mic as the music is blaring. The lady dances well. She now wants to dance. A shirtless man approaches her saying, “Hey you wanna dance?” She smiles and shies away. The guy, persistent and not bad looking says again, “You wanna dance?” and starts dancing besides her. She replies, “Why not” and they begin dancing to the beat. The wind from the beach water blows through her hair, as she smiles at the guy now dancing in front of her. At this moment, the deejay yells into the mic, “Ooh wee! That’s what I’m talking about, go go go!” A new song is playing, and there’s a larger group of people dancing. The guy moves on from her and dances with the lady dancer. She giggles and dances her way from the crowd. 

She walks to the middle of the beach where there’s an extension to the boardwalk. This stretches out into the farther part of the beach passing the shoreline. Many older gentleman are there fishing, as some couples are walking holding hands. She stands in a small cutout of this boardwalk extension, and looks out at the horizon. There is a mist in the air, still cloudy, but no rain. She takes in a deep breath and begins to reflect. Questions of where am I going in life, to why am I alone, crosses her mind. “That Beverley is something else,” she mumbles under her breath, as she remembers their conversation about dating. She questions about that too. She feels her iPod sticking out of her coat pocket. She takes it out and puts in into her tote bag. When she reaches in, she feels a piece of paper. It is the letter that Beverley gave her. She holds it in her hand and walks towards a seating area. She sits down and rereads it. “I don’t know how to feel about this. Why now?” she says to herself. As she looks up, an older couple passes by. The man looks at her and smiles. She smiles back. She sits there for some time with the letter still in hand. The breeze picks up speed, and the smell of sea water tickles her nose. She sighs out loud and throws the letter back in her tote bag. She gets up and walks away.