The 95th Floor Page 10

  “Are you okay back there?” She said to me.

  “Uhhh…I'm fine. Just a headache…and a little dizzy. No big deal.” I answered trying to seem calm.

  That was when I felt something warm on my lips. Then I tasted that coppery flavor that I so despised. I was having another nosebleed. And at the worst possible time.

  Keiko stood up at her seat and looked at me with worry, “Are you sure? You really don’t look good.”

  “Goddam—” I said before I fell over on the floor, unconscious. The last thing I remember was hearing Keiko yell at Ian to call an ambulance.

  When I finally woke up, I was surprised to see that I was still at Sal’s. I was surrounded by paramedics and Ian. I looked around at all of the faces looking at me as I lay on a stretcher in the kitchen of the pizzeria. I had a faint recognition of where I was, but everything else was a fuzzy blur. I was incredibly disoriented and felt like I had been drained of every ounce of blood in my body. It was minutes before I could complete a coherent thought. I looked around again, and everything began to come together like a jigsaw puzzle on the last few pieces.

  No Keiko. Great job Stan. You blew your one shot. I was immediately pissed off that I had to have an episode when Keiko was there. I must have scared her off.

  “You okay, son?” One of the paramedics asked. He was a plump man with a mustache that covered nearly his entire mouth. “Can you tell me what day it is?”

  I just stared at the ceiling trying to recall the day. I couldn’t do it. I never really kept track of that anyways. “I…can’t remember.”

  “Okay, I’ll give you an easier one. Who is the president of the United States?”

  Ah, an easy one. “Donald Trump,” I replied, feeling like I aced the exam.

  “Haha, that would be a nightmare. Sorry son, try again.” This was humorous in a time when the idea of Donald Trump becoming president was still ludicrous.

  Everything finally snapped into place, and I now remembered I was not in 2018 anymore.

  “My bad. Clinton.” I replied, trying to play it off smoothly.

  “There you go. Everything coming around finally?” You could hear every exhale from his nose as it breezed through the coarse hairs of his mustache.

  “Yeah, no big deal. It happens all the time.”

  “You took a pretty nasty fall. You gotta nice goose egg on your dome there.” He said as he pressed the very spot he was telling me about.

  “Oww! You don’t have to touch it. Jeez.” I barked.

  “Well, you made quite a mess as you can see. We should probably get you out in the ambulance and take you to the hospital.”

  “No! No. I’m fine. I have a brain condition, I’ve already been diagnosed. I can stay here. I told you, this happens all the time.” I half-lied. The migraines came all the time, but the nosebleeds were definitely serious. He didn’t need to know that though.

  “Well, if you say so. Let’s pack up and head back.” He said to the other paramedics. He really didn’t take much convincing. He apparently got a real kick out of the Donald Trump answer I gave as I heard him joking about it with the other paramedics as they left the pizzeria. If they only knew.

  They packed up their stuff and left while I had the job of cleaning up the place. I kept thinking about Keiko. She was even more exquisite in person. I just knew I had to catch up with her again. I just didn’t know how. Then I realized Ian was staring at me with a look of horror.

  “What?” I asked him with mild annoyance.

  “Yo, you freaked me out bad back there. That girl was yelling that you had passed out or something and when I saw the blood I just froze.”

  “Sorry about that. I kind of lied. The nosebleeds don’t happen all the time. The migraines do though. I have a brain tumor. Got diagnosed back home, just haven’t had it taken out yet. Long story.” I said trying to avoid revealing any vital information that he shouldn’t know.

  “Dude, I’m sorry. I-I didn’t know. Like, you’re still cool and everything though, right?”

  “Yeah man, no worries. I’ll get this cleaned up. I'm fine, just a little tired and weak right now. Let’s get cleaned up and go home. It’s nearly closing time anyway.” I said trying to change the subject.

  “Right.” He said walking slowly to the back to start cleaning up. “You seriously freaked me out though. Damn, I’m gonna have nightmares tonight. I hate the sight of blood.”

  His voice trailed off and I barely heard the last thing he said. My mind was stuck on Keiko and her soft milky voice and delicate smile. If I had ever had the picture of the perfect woman in my head, it looked exactly like her. I wanted to stop thinking of her though. When I did, I remembered how I scared her away, and my thoughts of fixation turned to hostility towards myself for having such shitty timing. Just one more pile of shit to stack on to the rest that my life has delivered me in such a loving fashion.

  Ian and I eventually got everything cleaned up and closed out for the night. By the time we left, Ian was back to his normal self. I doubted he would have any nightmares. He seems a bit odd at first, but once you get to know him, he’s actually a pretty cool guy. I considered him a friend.

  After bidding each other a good night, I hopped in my car and drove through the Holland Tunnel to my usual camping spot in the south-east corner of the Target lot. Sleep came easily to me due to the fatigue resulting from the blood loss earlier. It would be a wonderful night of dreams of Keiko. I just hoped I wouldn’t mess myself in my sleep.

  I awoke the next morning in a great mood. Sweet dreams will do that to a person. I got up and did my usual rounds, used the restroom inside the Target store, brushed my teeth, and emptied my bladder. Showering was more difficult as I had to find a place with a shower I could use. Truck stops were the only places I could think of and they charge out the ass to use the showers unless you are a trucker. Today I wanted to show up to work looking my very best.

  I arrived at work earlier than usual today. I know I vowed not to show up in a great mood again, but I couldn’t help it. I just had a feeling that today would be a good day. It would be just Ian and me all week, but that was perfectly fine. I knew my way around the place by this point.

  Ian sensed my good mood the moment I walked through the door.

  “Hey-hey! Look who it is. You are looking much better than last night. Got ya a good night’s rest, eh?”

  “Yes I did, my friend. This old boy isn’t going down without a fight.”

  “I must have missed the fight last night because you went down like a rock.” He said, mocking me.

  “Oh, there was a fight alright. Just not the kind you are thinking of. You ever see that one girl that just knocks you on your ass? Like, you can’t breathe or speak or anything.” I asked.

  “Hey man, this is New York. I see them daily.” He said half seriously.

  “No I mean, that one woman that just tops them all? Like you know she is the one?”

  “Oh, that one. No, I avoid commitments. I like to sample them all. Nothing long term. I like my space, ya know?” He finally admitted.

  “Normally I do too, but the one last night. Whew. I was hoping she would have been the one to give me some mouth to mouth.” Just the thought of her performing CPR on me started to get the juices flowing.

  “Damn, she was that hot, eh?” He said with a look of interest.

  “Hey man, hands off. At least let me strike out before you start laying on the Ian charm.” I was trying hard to hide any signs of jealousy.

  “Whoa, whoa, I’m just playin’. She’s all yours, my man.” He said, slapping me on the shoulder.

  I shook my head and started getting everything prepped for the day. Ian and I could make the day go by in a flash with our back and forth banter. He was a good guy to have on shift with you.

  His natural New York charm made up for my backwoods introverted personality. If anyone can get a person to open up, it was him. Sometimes it would piss me off how he could get me laughing when I really didn�
�t want to laugh. Sometimes a guy just wants to be alone to sulk. Guys like Ian are the worst people to have around at those times—in a good way, though.

  By late evening while Ian and I were having our usual back and forth, we heard the chime go off on the front door. And to my amazement, I saw the long black hair and knew who it was. Instantly my heart began to race again. This made be nervous as I was afraid we would have a reenactment of last night. I took a deep breath and walked to the counter.

  “Oh, hi. Uh, sorry about last night.” I said sheepishly.

  “Oh, you are okay! I’m so glad.” She said with that angelic smile of hers.

  “Yeah, it happens a lot. Well, not the blood part, but the other stuff…”

  “I’m so sorry. I got scared and left when the ambulance arrived.” She said, looking slightly ashamed.

  “Hey, it’s all good. I feel great today. Good as new.”

  Her smile returned. So did my racing pulse.

  “So, uh, what can I get you today?” I asked trying to get back in character.

  “I’ll have a Hawaiian again, please. It’s my favorite.”

  “Coming right up.” I handed her the pizza, and she tried to give me exact change again, but I politely refused. “No, it’s on me. Keep the money.”

  “Oh, no that is okay. You don’t need to do that.” She insisted.

  “Sorry, that is the rule tonight,” I told her. I then signaled at Ian to back me up “Isn’t that right, Ian?”

  “He’s right, miss. It’s today only, and just for you. Enjoy your pie.” Ian said. He really knew how to lay on the charm with minimal effort.

  Keiko gave a soft giggle. “Okay, well thank you, guys.”

  I noticed that she had her book with her again. She sat down in the corner of the lobby with her slice of Hawaiian pizza and cracked open the book and began reading. Some people may call me a nerd, but seeing her reading a history book instead of some cheesy harlequin romance novel really turned me on. As I was observing Keiko, a young man walked into the shop. At first glance, I thought the guy looked like a douchebag.

  “What can I get you?” I asked in a somewhat curt tone.

  “Yo, gimme one of your meat pizzas.” He said in his douchey voice.

  “The three meat pizza?” I asked him to clarify.

  “Yeah. Gimme one of those.”

  “We just served our last slice a little bit ago, if you don’t mind waiting about twenty minutes, Ian will get a new one cooked up.”

  “Yeah, whatever.” He said, waving his hand, and walked in the direction of Keiko.

  I kept a close eye on his movement; I just didn’t have a good feeling about him. I walked back to the kitchen and told Ian to make another pizza and walked back to the front to see the douchebag sitting at the same table as Keiko. She did not look like she took notice as she still had her nose in her book. I stood there and watched the scene unfold.

  “Hey, are ya gonna say sumthin’? How’s about you and I go to the club later?” The douche asked Keiko, receiving not even a glance in return.

  I just stood there and watched as she completely ignored his very existence. I admired her ability to remain completely unfazed by his obnoxiousness.

  “Helloooo, anybody in there? You gonna just ignore me and read that stupid ass book?” He said sounding like he might lash out at any moment. I had a feeling this guy was not what you would call stable. Meanwhile, Keiko still managed to stay in her little world, even flipping pages as the douchebag spoke to her. I was going to have no more of it.

  I walked to the table that Keiko was sitting at and sat down next to the douchebag.

  “You see the book she is reading? Are you familiar with Hiroshima?” I asked the douche.

  “What the fuck do you want? No, I ain’t hear of no shit like that.” He snapped back.

  “Well let me tell you about it. Hiroshima was a port city in Japan, still is actually, but for a while, it was nothing more than a charred speck on an island. You know why? We bombed them. They teach you this stuff in school, you know.” I was clearly patronizing the asshole. “Anyways, do you know why we bombed them? Because the Japanese have this thing called honor. They loved their country. They loved their emperor. They would die for both. And that is exactly what they were prepared to do. We could send wave after wave of our own troops and mow them down like stalks of wheat. They would just keep coming at us until their very last man was killed. So, to prevent such an enormous loss of life, and to finally bring an end to the war, we used the atomic bomb instead. We killed hundreds of thousands of civilians. A far lower number than if we had just kept sending in troops with guns. But you know what? It worked. Well, after we dropped the second one a few days later, but it still worked.”

  The douche just looked at me with an exaggerated expression of boredom, clearly meant to insult me. “Are you done? I didn’t come here for no fuckin’ history lesson.”

  “Right, that point is obvious. You came here because you wanted to stick some ‘meat pizza’ in your mouth and to harass this lovely lady without getting the crystal clear hint that she has no interest in a fuck-up like you.”

  “You better watch your mouth—” he tried to say before I cut him off.

  “Or what? You aren’t the least bit intimidating to me, and you sure as shit haven’t even registered on her radar.” It was actually quite funny as Keiko had yet to take her eyes off her book. She was clearly listening because when I mentioned her, I looked over and she peeked past her book and locked eyes with me, giving me a cute little smile from the corner of her mouth.

  “Whatever man, I’m out of here. You better watch your back.”

  “I’ll do that. Meanwhile, you better watch yours as well. And don’t let the door hit you with that stick hanging out of your ass.”

  It took everything in my power to hide the rush of adrenaline that was coursing through my veins. I had jitters in my arms, and legs, but was able to suppress them enough that the dude scoffed and walked out of the store.

  When the douchebag walked out and the door closed again, Keiko started laughing. I exhaled all the air that was in my lungs since my show of bravado was quite the strain on my body as well as my nerves.

  “Wow, nobody has done that for me before. Thank you…” Keiko said after her laughter died down.

  “Hey, don’t worry about it. I had a bad feeling the moment he walked in.”

  “That was pretty cool what you told him. You seem to know your history a bit.” She said to me with what I suspected was a spark of interest.

  “I have read more history books than you could imagine.”

  “Oh yeah? You should take a look at my collection. You might be surprised.” She said with that smile again. It is a good thing I have good self-control…well sometimes.

  “Is that an invitation?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t think I was serious.

  “Yeah. Why not. You gave me a free dinner, and you made that asshole leave. I owe you.”

  “Whoa, I was just joking,” I said nervously.

  “Well, I’m not. I don’t meet many guys with the same interests as me. It is nice to finally meet one for a change. I’m Keiko.” She reached out to shake hands.

  “Stan. Stan Lundberg.” I politely took her hand and kissed it. I felt kind of silly, but at the same time, I wanted to do everything I could to woo her.

  “You are a nice guy Stan. I live just across the street from here. It’s a small place but cozy enough for one person.” Then she took a pen out of her purse and wrote on the back of her receipt and slid it to me. “Give me a call sometime. I really would like to show you my book collection.”

  “Wow. I don’t know what to say. Are you sure? I mean, I am ecstatic right now, but…” I didn’t even know what I was trying to ask her. I felt as though I had forgotten how to speak.

  She let out a laugh. “Haha yes. Now take it. Call me or just knock on my door. I hope to see you soon, Stan.” She said as she got up and left the pizzeria, waving as
she walked out the door.

  I just sat there, speechless. It took me back to when I got the diagnosis for my brain tumor. I remember just sitting in my car staring out into nothingness for what seemed like ages. This was one step above that. I remained there until Ian came out and woke me from my trance.

  “Hey there, lover boy. I see you scored a number. Good job, my man.” He said slapping me on the back.

  “I can’t believe it. I really can’t believe it.” I couldn’t form any other words.

  “Well believe it. I’m a witness. It happened, my friend. But we still have work to do. It’s almost time for the evening rush. Better get those gears working in that head of yours. Your lady will still be waiting for you.”

  “Yeah…” I said and walked to the front counter to wait for people to start coming in droves.

  The rest of the night was pretty much a blur. I mostly worked on auto-pilot. When we finally locked up the store, I was tempted to walk across the street to her place and knock on the door but decided I didn’t want to look desperate. I would wait until tomorrow. I looked at her address. Apartment 11. That gave me chills. She lives in Apartment 11, and in less than two years she would be killed by Flight 11, on 9/11. That was way too many elevens. It had to just be a coincidence.

  I shrugged it off and drove back to the parking lot I knew so well. Getting sleep that night was incredibly difficult. I met Keiko again, and she gave me her number and address. And what is even better is she lives right across the street from the pizzeria. What are the odds? Eventually, my excitement ran out, and I finally dozed off, hoping for more sweet dreams of Keiko. Instead, I was tortured with dreams of her in her office on the 95th floor of the North Tower on 9/11.

  Chapter 10

  When morning finally came, I debated whether or not to visit Keiko at her apartment. I slept like shit that night and had bags under my eyes the size of suitcases. Any other day I wouldn’t even think twice about my appearance, but I suddenly felt myself growing self-conscious about how others saw me. Well, at least how Keiko saw me.