The alarm rang at 8:00 a.m., though Dan did not remember setting it, and he woke up after almost eight hours of solid sleep. He got up, had his usual two large mugs of coffee, showered, shaved, and dressed in comfortable jeans and a T-shirt and left for St. John’s University to do the research needed to complete his program proposal.
Remembering that he had failed to see his landlady this week as he had promised himself, he stopped at the first landing and knocked gently on her door. He had not seen her all week and knew she would be worried about him getting home much later than usual, long after she was fast asleep. She answered immediately and gave him a hug. “Dan, I was worried about you. I did not see or hear you all week except when you went out in the mornings. Is everything all right?”
“Yes Mrs. Adams, I’m perfectly fine. I have a new job that has me working long hours, at least temporarily. I just wanted to say hi and let you know I’m fine. I know you worry about me almost as much as my mom.”
“How are your parents, dear? I haven’t seen or heard from them in some time.”
“They’re fine. Unfortunately, they’re about three hours away, so I don’t see them as often as I’d like these days either, and dad does not like driving into the city any more since his back has been giving him trouble on long trips. But they’re otherwise fine, and they always ask about you whenever I speak to them or visit them. They send you regards as well that I too often neglect to pass along until I actually see you.”
“I’m so glad you stopped by today. I really was starting to think there may be something wrong. I would have gone up today already, but I did not want to wake you in case you were sleeping in.”
“I’m on my way to the university to do some research for work, but I’ll be around this weekend. Maybe you can come up and have a cup of coffee or tea and catch up later today or tomorrow. Does that sound o.k.?”
Wonderful dear, I look forward to it. But you come down instead. I’ll make some of my special almond cookies you like so much.”
“Please don’t trouble yourself. Mrs. Adams. I have lots of goodies upstairs.”
“No trouble at all dear. It will be my pleasure and give me something to do. My grandson will be around tomorrow too—he’s covering the Mets game, so I’ll save some for him also.”
“Give my regards to Steve. I’m glad he’s coming over. He and his charming wife Barbara are wonderful people. Please give them both my regards.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I will. And I hope to see you later or tomorrow if you don’t get back until late today. And give your Linda my love—such a nice girl. You make such a lovely couple.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Adams. I will. I had dinner with her and her parents last night and she might come over today or tomorrow. I’ll bring her by to say hello.”
“Lovely dear. We can all have tea and cookies. Thank you for stopping to talk to an old lady.”
“You are not old—but you are most certainly one of my favorite ladies.” He said, giving her a quick hug. She closed the door and he continued on his way down the stairs. He really liked Mrs. Adams, who was like another grandmother to him. In fact, his grandmothers both knew and liked her too while they lived. They were three of a kind, despite the language barrier as his grandmothers both had difficulty with English.
Less than a half hour later, Dan was at the main library on his old St. John’s University campus in Jamaica Estates, Queens, gathering data in support of the need for his proposed program. And there was plenty of it from print sources. Although the research that today would have taken him at most an hour to compile from his desk from publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics sites alone took him many hours to find, consult and photocopy from the available print materials, by 3:00 p.m. he had more than he needed—including data he culled from the Sunday New York Times classified section ads from the past two months for office support personnel with competence in WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3 and dBase III. By 3:30 p.m. he was back home and at his computer, updating his proposal with the relevant data that he knew would significantly strengthen his argument for the need for the program and its benefit to prospective students. He also included the helpful information Bob had provided. By 4:30 p.m. he was done, his dot matrix printer noisily buzzing his finished report.
The rest of his weekend was uneventful and a much-needed respite from the past week’s long hours and hectic pace. He called his parents several times on Saturday and Sunday, trying to make up for his inability to spend much time on the phone with them the prior week, happily updating them on his new job and its challenges in detail. He also tried to make it up to Linda with a romantic dinner and welcomed alone-time at home on Saturday for just the two of them, after having afternoon tea with Mrs. Adams who had regaled them with her scrumptious almond cookies and had insisted they take a full plate of the still-warm treats “for later.” Sunday, they visited their closest friends, Claude and Cathy Morell in Elmhurst and went out on a double-date to a recently released romantic comedy in one of their favorite theaters in Fresh Meadows with dinner afterwards at a local diner and coffee, brandy and wonderful conversations at their friends’ home later that evening.
When he finally took Linda back home on Sunday night at 11:00 p.m., he made sure to go in for a short visit with her parents who were still up and sitting at their kitchen by their rear door having a snack. That turned into an hour of animated conversation over a glass of wine and a platter of jamon serrano, Manchego cheese and crusty French bread. He got home and went to bed close to 1:00 a.m., refreshed and quickly fell asleep contentedly.