My Aunt Jackie Part 2

At 12:30 am. I descended, thinking of Jason Scott Lee, his half-naked body wrapped in a tiger-striped loin cloth against mine as he carefully escorted me down. Many flights down, I glanced below. I could see the end of my sheet ladder! It was about three feet from the rear and about ten times that amount from the ground. The lights were tiny and blinking in the distance. I was far from the runway!

Looking up, I think I was too heavy to go back. I was close to a balcony, but it was barricaded.

‘Where the hell is Mary Poppins?’ A voice inside me cried.

‘Make up your mind,’ another voice protests. ‘Mary or Jason, you can’t have both. Besides, only one of them is real.’ I can’t believe I was talking to myself and answering.

Neither of them showed up. Right now, I think my Aunt Jackie has taken over my body. I could scream for help or take my chances; I have got to deliver that heart. . . . mine!

This area was a little like Co-op City in the Bronx. Only it was in the Inwood area of Manhattan in New York City. There were about fifteen high-rise apartment buildings in this region. They were called Henry Hudson Houses because some faced the Hudson River, and the Henry Hudson bridge was close.

They were broken into a cluster of three buildings on each block—thirty stories high, with more than fifteen apartments on each floor, and named after the alphabet.

My family and I live in Building B in the middle. Building A was closer to the River to the left. Building C to the right.

Each cluster had an underground garage and was fenced around. There were two entrances and exits. One from the underground garage, if you were driving out or in. The other was from the first floor, which I was closer to.

The first floor was a garage. Its roof extended about ten feet out. The entrance was to the right, the exit to the left.

I concluded if I swung to the right, I might land on the rooftop. Using the barricaded balcony for a push start, I jumped, landing safely on the rooftop. Thanks to eight months of gymnastics. I think I landed on runway 10 with one shoe in my hand. My other shoe was between runway 11 and 9 on the inside, which was fenced around.

I must remind Mom to buy more sheets.

After a body check, I climbed down. Safely on the ground, I scanned around, ‘Darn it!’ I cried.

I should have landed closer to the runway, ‘ah well, good thing I knew the code number to get in.’

On the inside, I took a small mirror from my purse and powdered my nose under a flood light from a nearby pole after finding my other shoe and putting both on. I turned around, facing three big black Doberman pinchers who weren’t barking. I panicked!

Minutes later, I think we were trying to out-stare each other, or they were stunned by my perfume because they didn't move and they still weren't barking.

I made one step, and they did the same left, right, left, right, left, right, they did the same. Who the hell trained these dogs, the US Army? Something tells me not to get them barking. So I started to do the Bronson Pinchot in 'Perfect Strangers' dance of joy, 'I was desperate!'.

They sat down; I stopped, and they stood up. I repeated the process more than once. They did the same. 'Oh, they need to be entertained ah.'

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.