Kevin would most likely shit his pants and Winnie Cooper would've been bared from ever leaving her house if they had lived in Elizabeth NJ... but instead.
We arrived on a hot day, I thought I knew hot, but never had I imagined this sort of heat. 90% humidity and 35 degree heat was not something that I've previously experienced. There was nothing like this in the eastern block, ever. Getting out of the airport, the smell of hot asphalt mixed with the heat made me sick to my stomach.
Pop's friend picked us up, we were only a short drive away from the airport. I wasn't a big fan of cars. It wasn't long before I realized that I didn't land in the next episode of The Wonder Years. The distant planet that we were circumnavigating was a barren wasteland of failed capitalism and social reforms. Homeless people and drug paddlers, burned out buildings and cracked pavements melted into a single landscape of disillusion. Red brick projects and rusty sidings with graff tags, flying papers and garbage kicked up as we passed. The sound of squeaking breaks coming in louder each time we passed another parked vehicle. Each red light gave me the opportunity to look around. Rt. 21... the main street in Newark which eventually be the first place where as a late teen I get my chance to race a car... but... that's later down the road. Right now I'm in a state of complete shock.
We arrived...
The basement apartment with windows leveled with the parking lot outside of it smelled of staleness and potpourri air-freshener. I've never seen apartments with windows this low to the ground. It reminded me of the old pre-war brownstone buildings in Warsaw with their basement windows at the street levels. I use to watch movies about the Nazi occupation and Jewish families hiding in basements with windows facing the streets...
This was to be my new home.
It took me a while to regurgitate and process what I had seen on the way ... home. I also realized that it'll be a while before I can leave and explore on my own.
Alone...
It wasn't until about a week later that I felt the loneliness.
There was no one to call, talk to, visit or go out and see. Going shopping was a real chore, I didn't understand a single god damned word. Then my bike got stolen, literally 8hrs after getting it. Fucking figures. No more riding rounds around the project complex for me. I got pretty far, then I got lost... it all looked exactly the same. From now on, it was just sitting around, waiting... waiting for the end of the summer. Then I'd go to High School... yey... fucking lovely. That's going to be a trip...
Why is it that folks stateside don't have washing machines in their apartments? I don't know... really, I still don't know. They just don't. Pop's asked me to put laundry in. I walked down the long corridor and loaded it up, put the quarters in... then sat down. There was a small table with books, I'll read .. I thought to myself... the book looked amazing, a thick paperback with a cover that screamed Fantasy! There was a half naked barbarian woman with a sword and a huge dragon. Wow... it must be amazing... I opened the book. From its pages, rows of familiar letters came jumping at me, none of them put in order which I could even try to recognize. This is going to take ... a very... very long time I thought.
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