A Day in the Park

Kat and Henry went to have a picnic in Central Park with a wink and a nod. It would, of course, have been entirely inappropriate for people like them to do this earnestly.

Kat had received a sizable amount of money after finishing high school. Her grandparents had bought a long-term bond when she was little, and it matured along with her until she was eighteen and ready to go out and see the world. It wasn't enough that she was now independently wealthy, but it would have been a good start towards paying for college. Instead, she had decided to move away from the Midwest to New York City. The money would be there to ensure that she could settle in before finding a job. Her father was furious, while her mother was just sad. There were long talks about bettering oneself, and about what grandma and grandpa would think if they were still alive.

Kat had met Henry ("Like O'Henry, but without an O", he had explained when she had misheard him) at a record store. This was after she had been moved in for a week, and was starting to feel restless. She knew no one in New York, and found it hard to actually meet people. Before Henry, she had had two conversations with random strangers, but neither of them had said to her, "Say, would you like to hang out some time? Can I have your phone number?" and because they hadn't, Kat didn't push it.

Henry was skinny, with a full beard that partially hid his smirks. He wore jeans that followed the contour of his legs, a T-shirt with "TEH" printed on it, and an overly long scarf that wrapped around his neck twice. He stood there among the vinyl, leafing through the records with a detached look. Their eyes met briefly, and he asked her about what bands she liked, and when he learned that she was new to the city he offered to show her around.

Their first date was to the Statue of Liberty, where he showed her how to make fun of the tourists. On their second date, Henry took her to the top of the Empire State Building for more people watching, and afterwards they went to the Wo Hop Restaurant for dinner, and later to his place where Kat lost her virginity.

This picnic in Central Park was technically their third date, though she'd stopped by to see him at his work in the interim. He had seemed preoccupied, and Kat worried that she had overstepped her bounds. They didn't talk about it, instead enjoying the sunny park, laid back on the checkered blanket after having finished their sandwiches, their hands almost touching. She was wearing his scarf, the one that he had been wearing when they first met. He had given it to her as a gift, and she wore it now as a mark of possession. This had gone without comment by either of them.

While turning over onto her stomach, a gust of wind took the scarf from atop her body, and sent it fluttering through the air. Kat looked to Henry, hoping that he would go after it, but he wasn't watching, and seemed to have fallen asleep. She slowly got up and went after it; the scarf had gone to the trees, and tangled itself in the thick brush.

As she was unhooking the thick wool from the branches, she looked up and saw a man standing not ten feet from her. Her parents would have called him a vagrant; Henry would have called him a bum. His clothes were caked with the accumulated filth of street life, and he was watching her while pleasuring himself.

Kat turned away as quickly as she could, and sat back down on the blanket. Now that she knew he was there, she could hear him panting. She shook Henry awake, and whispered in his ear. He didn't seem shocked at all. He gathered up their things and walked away, and Kat followed behind him, willing herself not to look back.