The Doorman

It was February, in the middle of winter in New York City, 32 degrees and windy on a Monday morning. I bundled up with black jeans, black long sleeves, a sweater and black leather boots. I put on my black down jacket and made sure to put my scarf around my neck before leaving my apartment for work. I live in the Bronx on 220th Street and Bronxwood Avenue. I take the number two train to Third Avenue and transfer to the number five train that stops at Lexington Avenue/59 Street in Manhattan. I arrived at the train station and, as usual, the platform was crowded with people, all anxiously waiting for the train to arrive, hoping that it was not too full so we could all squeeze ourselves in. When the train arrived, we all rushed to the door and pushed just to get inside, not to get a place to seat, because we knew there would be none. All we wanted, is to get in and make it to our stop hoping we would not miss our connection to the next train. Thank goodness, I leave home super early with plenty of time to spare in case I happen to miss my train or the train is late, which has happened before. Such is life in New York City. Always a hustle and bustle, rushing from one place to another. My name is Katie Summers, I am 20 years old. I moved here from the beautiful island of Saint Lucia in the west Indies. Sometimes, I wondered what the hell I was thinking about leaving a wonderful tropical island to come freeze my buns in New York City. I work in the City on First and York Avenue. I have no friends, just acquaintances. I arrived at work and took the elevator to the fifth floor. When I got to the door, I looked at my watch and realized I had arrived at 7:45 am. Great! I am fifteen minutes early. I was immediately greeted by my employer. I made my way to the door of the love of my life, my angel. I walked over, "Hey, sleepy head, time to wake up, I have a wonderful day planned for us." She stirred and made a cute little noise that made me giggle. She finally opened her eyes, smiled and then gave me the biggest hug. I greeted her. "Good morning, I love you." She tried to say it back, but it came out as "I luv ooo". I laughed. That is Sara, the one-year-old little princess they have entrusted to my care. She is a ray of sunshine, the sweetest little girl ever. We go to the park every day, we have mommy and me time two days a week, and we go to the Library every Wednesday. I plan play dates with the other nannies on the days we do not have our prior engagements. We have a full schedule. No time to meet my mister right. I have been working for this Jewish family for the past three months. They are very good to me. They gave me a bonus after a month to say thank you for taking great care of Sara. I am so lucky to be working for this family. I cannot help but think of all the horror stories I have heard from other nannies. Ava and Liv have similar stories about the cold shoulder they have received from their employers. Such as ignoring them when they say good morning or goodbye. "They are even telling us to clean up after them." Ava added that the other day her employer told her she was eating too much of their food. We all gasped. Mia chimed in, telling us her employer had a pile of laundry waiting for her when she arrived this morning. Her boss told her it had to be washed, dried, and folded by the time she arrived home this evening. Rose also said she had to clean the entire apartment and do the dishes. She would check to see if the dishes had blemishes to rewash them. She mentioned they have a dishwasher in the kitchen. Susan and I did not have anything to share, because our employer treated us like part of their family. They stayed because they needed the money. Some of them care for their families that live in other countries. Unfortunately, all Susan and I could do was just listen because we did not share their feelings of sadness and despair. I wish there was something we could do to make their situation better. After breakfast, I got Sara ready to head out. We were meeting the girls downstairs in ten minutes where we would all walk to the park together. After we arrived, we noticed this attractive guy who we had never seen before. He was an Indian, about 5 feet 11 inches tall and about 160 pounds, with a small mustache and chubby face. He was setting up some kind of stall where people sell refreshments. We stopped. "Who are you?" This is Ava, she is from Barbados. She has a strong personality, with short black hair that reaches her shoulders. Brown eyes, brown skin and a button nose. We call her the leader of our group. "What are you doing here?" Liv, is outgoing and sociable. She is from St. Vincent. She has black hair, black eyes, carmel complexion with a beautiful smile. "So you are a vendor?" Mia, is lighthearted and silly. She is from Dominica, which is part of the West Indies. She has black wavy hair that is medium length, with brown eyes and soft bronze skin tone. "So what will you be selling? Curry frog sandwiches?" We all laughed. Rose has a bubbly personality, she is always cheerful. She is from Jamaica with a wicked accent. She always has different streaks of purple and red in her hair. Brown skin, black eyes and hair on her shoulder. "What kind of sandwiches will you be selling?" said Susan, who is from Trinidad and Tobago. Beautiful accent and is vivacious. She has a caramel skin tone with black hair and eyes. Her hair lands in the middle of her back. She works in the same building as me. After our interrogation, we found out his name is Steven, and he is from Pakistan. He was twenty-six years old. He would be selling chips, water sandwiches, hot dogs and other snacks. We were excited because now we did not have to leave the park to get snacks or water, since it was closed. The entire time the girls were interrogating Steven, he was stealing glances at me. I was smiling shyly. He looked over at me and asked, what is your name? I replied, I'm Katie. We got to our usual spot and sat down, removed our kiddos out of their strollers and into the sandbox. We were chatting away, and I was keeping a close eye on my little one. Suddenly, one of the kids put something in their mouth and started choking. I rushed over to Sara, looked her over, then ran to Ava to help her with her little one. I have taken a course in CPR. I guess today is the day it will come in handy. I did the Heinrich maneuver. After the third abdominal thrust, a toy came flying out of her mouth. We all sighed in relief. "That was a close one,"Liv said. Ava thanked me. "Where did you learn how to do that?" Ava asked. When I first arrived, the girl I stayed with told me it would be beneficial to take a course at the local college. It was free. In our circle we had Susan, Ava, Liv, Jade, Rose, Mia and I. I have been inseparable with these ladies for the past three months. Spring came, and the weather was wonderful. I did not have to bundle as much when leaving my home. It was a Friday. While at the park, I went to get a snack from Steven when he mentioned he was interested in me. "I would like to take you out sometime," he said. I was taken back, I did not think this handsome guy was asking me out. I agreed to exchange numbers and see how things go from there. That night Steven called. He asked where I was from? How old was I? How long have I worked for this family? Am I seeing anyone? I answered all his questions and soon hung up. The following week. Steven planned a lunch date at Central Park. He brought a picnic. We had sandwiches, soda, chips and dip. Then we went to the petting zoo, where we got a chance to feed the goats, sheep, ponies, rabbits, chicken and ducks. The day was nice, and I had a good time. We had so much in common and was happy the day turned out so great. Monday rolled around, and I spoke to the girls about my lunch date. I told them that Steven and I had a great time, and I am looking forward to our next date. Steven and I texted back and forth for another week. Things were going great! He told me he has something special planned for us this weekend. He was being all mysterious about it. I was super excited and could not wait until the weekend. I went to get a bottle of water from Steven when we got to talking. He opened up and told me a story about how his sister had a boyfriend. He and his brothers did not like him because they thought he did not make enough money to care for his sister. And asked that he stop seeing his sister, but the guy refused. So, they hunted his sister's boyfriend and hurt him. I thought, what kind of person are you? What kind of people do such things to someone his sister is seeing? That story scared me so much that I avoided him like the plague. I stopped answering his calls and texts. Now it was awkward going to the park, because he is right at the entrance. I had to pass him before I could even get into the park. I should have never agreed to go out with him. I was even afraid to enter the park by myself after hearing that story, knowing what he was capable of.