Upper East Side
“His cousins a jeweler, we have friends that are jewelers,” says a woman’s voice to my left. All around me, I hear wheels rolling across pavement, starting a few feet before halting to a stop, or whirring forward to beat the next light. Their motors hum in a chorus of discordant tones. Cars honk impatiently, and every so often I hear birds chirping in the trees above me, one of the many signs of spring.
Below me, I feel the breeze from the subway vents, and hear a train whine against the tracks as it slows. A group of girls in their teens chatter excitedly in front of me. “Don’t lie to me, I saw you!” says one in a teasing voice. Their rubber soled shoes slap against the concrete as they hurry down the street, mixing in with the clacking high heels and clumsy boots.
The volume of voices surrounding me ebbs and swells as groups of people exit the subways. I can faintly hear the tinny music from somebody’s headphones for a moment as they pass. A few minutes later, a car rolls to a stop at the light and Zeppelin wafts through its windows. When the light changes, the car lurches forward, loudly accelerating before it speeds off.
