Nicole Cerniglia's 302

            It’s five o’clock p.m. traffic on the George Washington Bridge. I have been doing this ride for years. Back and forth, back and forth the same schedule since I graduated college in 1976. It’s not an exciting fun job like I thought I would have, but hey at least it feeds the family.

            The car radio is on channel 880 AM and the week’s highlights are being played. It’s finally Friday and I can’t wait to just get home and have a nice Blue Moon. That is what I always look forward to at the end of a long week… and believe me it has been a long week.

The highlights are droning on and on over the speakers when suddenly a new voice cuts in, rudely interrupting a story about a New York City apartment building that was on fire.

“We’re sorry for the interruption but there are major delays on I-95 and the George Washington Bridge. The Bridge will be shut down due to difficulties on the south end. Paramedics and police have been called to the scene.”

“What the hell is going on…?”

The person in the car in front of me gets out and walks to the side rail. I see the person behind me do the same. I guess if we’re stuck here I might as well call Jessica and stretch my legs. I reach in the consul and fumble for my phone, an out dated version from the early 2000’s. My kids always make fun of me and call it “the brick” but hey it’s done its job well. What do I need some fancy phone anyhow? I dial the numbers and bring the phone to my ear.

“Hey Jess, you might want to put dinner in the over or order the girls take out. They shut the bridge down and I’m in the middle of it. Who knows when I will be able to move again, we are in full bumper to bumper mode.”

“Ahhh okay Jim. Thanks for calling and letting me know. I’ll order a pizza then.”

“Hey Jess? Mind checking the TV news highlights and see what’s going on? Maybe I can get an idea of what time I’ll be home.”

“Sure sweetheart.”

The phone goes silent and I hear the channels getting changed in the background finally I hear a constant murmur as I wait for Jessica to get back on the phone.

“Oh God Jim there is a jumper! By the end of the bridge! They are trying to talk him down now!”

In all my years of doing the same drive back and forth, I have yet to see a jumper. Of course I’ve heard stories but never have I actually witnessed anything.

“Ok Jess. Don’t worry everything will turn out ok and I’ll be home soon.”

“Ok Jim, keep me updated!”

I click the phone down as I notice more and more people slowly getting out of their cars to stretch their legs. Maybe some of them know what’s going on.

I turn off the engine and unbuckle the seatbelt. Do I really want to see this? I open the car door with a click and slowly stand up. The sun is just setting over the water and the sky it orange and pink. The water looks almost black under it. Its about 75 degrees outside and a warm breeze ruffles my hair as I slowly walk to the edge or the bridge. Who would ever find sorrow in a day like today? Uneasily I buck up the courage and peer over to my right. I see police lights flashing and a group of cars blocking the exit of the bridge and then I see him. He is on the other side of the railing that I am leaning over, feet planted on the edge, his arms stretched behind him gripping the railing. He is in a full cooperate suit, black with a white shirt with a black tie. His chin is resting on his chest as I see it unsteadily go up and down. He is sobbing.

There are people behind him; some police, some paramedics, and some other men like me. Just trying to help. I can’t hear what they’re saying but I see the pleading looks on their faces.

The man, still with his chin resting on his chest, began to shake his head. What could have possibly gone wrong that this man saw this as the only way out? Did he just drop a big deal at work? Did he lose his job? Maybe he got some bad news from his family? What would cause me to do something so drastic?

I’m looking at him asking all these questions when suddenly I see him let go, chin still on his chest. I hear a scream come from him, a scream from help. It echoes through my ears as I hear him hit the black water. He could have hit concrete and the sound would have been just the same, as if a flat palm hit a stone. And he was gone.

A man is in the shower.  The phone rings.  Rather than letting the machine pick up, he jumps out, snatches his dark blue bathrobe from the hook on the bathroom door, and races downstairs, dripping.  He trips on a child’s toy, and curses, wishing he had put a phone in the bedroom. What was he thinking?  He picks up the receiver in the middle of the fourth ring—the last one before the machine was to pick up.  The voice on the phone says . . .

“Hi, it’s Adele is James home?”

“Hey baby, Nora left a few hours ago, I’m getting ready now. I’ve missed you! Sorry that I haven’t been able to escape these past few nights.”

“No it’s understandable, does she have any suspicion?”

“Not at all, she drop the kid’s at her mother’s house and went to go visit her sister, I told you what happened didn’t I?”

“No, what’s going on?”

“He sister got in a car accident last week, she has been in a coma and is pretty banged up. These past few days Nora has been by her side. The doctor said she might pull out of it tonight so she decided to stay later. The house had been a real mess.”

“That’s really unfortunate, have you been with her?”

“Yes and no… I just got home from the hospital and it will be really nice to finally get out of this dreary place. I miss you Adele.”

“I miss you too baby, when will you be here?”

“Give me twenty minutes, I just need to get dressed and do a few things then I’ll be right over”

The man puts the phone gently back on the hook and looks around the crowded living room. Toys action figures of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker are strewn all over the floor and the plasma TV was left on Nickelodeon muted where SpongeBob is mouthing something to Patrick. He walks over to the side of the TV and hits the power button. He shakes his head and he takes an overview of the room. Old dished from last Wednesday were left on the end tables still caked in food. Crusted over pasta sauce remains in them. He picks up the old dishes and walked down the hall and into the kitchen where the dishes from the past week are piled high in the sink. Nora told him that she would get to them today! What happened to her? Annoyed by the mess of the house, he tosses the dished to the top of the pile and walks away, leaving a miniature Leaning Tower of Pisa in his wake. He starts walking up the spiral staircase when he hears the front door creak open.

“Jack?”

“Nora? I thought you were going to be at the hospital all night?”

“Jack, she’s gone…just like that.”

“Nora? What do you mean? What happened?”

“She had slow internal bleeding that the doctors didn’t pick up.”

Jack sees his wife collapse on the black and white tile floor, sobbing. A look of confusion and impatience washes over his face as he pats her back.

“I’m so sorry Nora. At least she’s not in pain anymore.”

“I’m just going to miss her so much, baby, so much.”

Jack takes his hand off his wife’s back and looks at the time of his cell phone. Stressed, he tries to look for an escape.

“Nora I’m going to pick up some dinner and then I’ll snag the kids. I love you.”

“Jack please don’t leave me here alone!”

“Nora I’m hungry, I have to eat.”

Jack walks up the spiral staircase, leaving his wife alone whimpering on the tile floor.

There was always something about the way he used to drive his car around like he didn’t anywhere else in the world to be. It was a blood red mustang convertible with leather interior. The passenger side seat was my seat, considering I had permanent shotgun in it. Everyone knew that they wouldn’t have a chance sitting there if I was around. In the summer, he would wear American Eagle tee shirts, usual bright colors like blue and green. Those shirts always brought out his eyes, a crystal green, however when I used to lie on his stomach and talked to him they I could see they were more then green. Closer to the pupil they became gray and around each pupil was a golden sun. When he glanced over at me from the driver side of that red horse and smiled, all that would show were those golden suns in his eye. It seems so long ago since I have seen that… probably because it will be a year this Valentines day.

I remember before he joined the army he used to have long enough hair where I could run my fingers through it as he weaved in and out of traffic. His hair was so soft, almost like a newborn baby’s but obviously thicker. When we would drive on roads where there were trees covering the road I remember how the light would play tricks on his hair. In the shadows it would be a mahogany brown but then there would be a patch were no leaves were blocking the sky and his hair would be a rusting gold. It was beautiful. Then the leaves would cover it in a split second and it would be back to the mahogany brown color.

I remember being forced to listen to what I used to think was terrible music, which over the years I grew to love. He loved to switch between rock to underground acoustic shit that I did not even know existed. He would drum his two pointer fingers on the steering wheel when we would hit a light, matching the beat of the drums in the song. He also would always mouth the lyrics very nonchalantly but NEVER sing. I remember one time I called him out on never singing. I started teasing him that maybe he had a terrible voice and that it would break the glass windshield. He proceeded to take the CD out of the player and throw it behind him into the street. We kept driving in silence. I never pried about why he never sang again.

During these summer car rides I remember driving to Wal-mart at least once a week for the deluxe bag of gummy bears. We would just drive around for hours on end chatting about the latest things in our lives or old stories that the other one had not heard, munching on gummy bears the whole time. My favorites were the red and orange ones so naturally I would leave him the rest. He used to bite the head off the bears first, and then proceed to pop the rest into his mouth, complaining the whole time that it wasn’t fair that I got the good ones. Then he would smile and stick his tongue out at me, which I would relay back to him.

I remember that at night, when he would drive me home, we would kiss at every red light we would stop at. He would just look at me and I would look at him and we would laugh and just start kissing. We were both children back then, what did we ever know of love?

(Scene: trapped in an elevator up an apartment building. The walls are plated metal that one can see their reflection in)

-Enters me pressing the button to the 20^th floor, just as the doors were closing a hand pokes around the corner stopping the door from closing. In walks the girl who I just found out hooked up with my ex boyfriend. She is also one of my friends.

Me: (Trying not to make eye contact)

Her: Hey! Long time no talk! What happened to drinks the other night?

Me: I was busy.

Her: Oh really? What were you up to? Me and the girls missed you!

Me: I was at Chris’s.

Her: Oh good! Are you guys trying to figure things out?

Me: (Looks strait into her eyes) Yeah we were. (Looks away) And things were going really well.

Her: Yeah I really liked you guys together. I told him he really screwed that up.  He came over last we and we talked about it.

Me: Is that all you talked about?

Her: Yeah you know how he can be. Just really dismissive and stuff. He still really cares about you Nicole, you don’t understand. It hurts him so much to see you in pain and he just really wants to keep you in his life.

(Elevator jams and the girls are stuck between the 16 and 17^th floors)

Her: Shit this always happens here! Hey at least were getting to finally catch up!

Me: (under my breath) Joy.

Her: So yeah he was just really worried he would lose you as a friend and he just doesn’t want that.

Me: Want what?

Her: To lose you as a friend.

Me: Well that’s funny… we’ve been hooking up for a week now. He didn’t seem to want it to be just friends. (Looking her strait in the eyes) What is your definition of “Friends” when if comes to ex’s Becca?

Her: (not making eye contact and staring into the plated metal) You know… Like being cordial with each other. Still being in each other’s lives.

Me: Do you think that can happen for me Becca?

Her: I don’t see why it couldn’t.

Me: I see why I couldn’t.

Her: Why?

Me: How can you honestly be in this fucking elevator with me and act like everything is fine.

Her: What are you talking about?

Me: (looking directly at her) Oh… you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about.

Her: Nicole…

Me: How DARE you pretend we’re ok right now! How DARE you talk about our friendship like it means something to you? I forgave the shit you did to everyone else and I fucking stood up for you when you screwed over Jason but THIS is how I’m repaid? And the worst part…. Like I didn’t think it could get any worse… is the fact that neither one of you had the fucking balls to tell me. You both disgust me. If it was up to me I would’ve let the elevator door slam on your perfectly painted fucking fingernails.

(Jolt of the elevator, it’s moving again)

Her: Nicole I’m…

Me: Save it for someone who cares. I know where I stand with you and I sure as hell know where you stand with me.

Her: I was gonna tell…

(Elevator doors open, I walk)

-Scene-