Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick Read Free

caught a glimpse of Manhattan that existed only for certain individuals occupying a very specific stratum of human achievement. She must have recognized me too, because when she finished her call, she turned and looked me up and down.
    "You're Phil Stormaire's son, aren't you?"
    "Yeah," I said. "I mean, yes, ma'am." I held out my hand, aware that my face and ears were still burning red from the argument with my father. "Perry."
    She shook my hand. "You're clerking here part time?"
    "Just helping out. I'm still in high school."
    "Graduating this year? What are your plans?"
    "Columbia, hopefully. Pre-law."
    "Really." She arched an eyebrow. "Have you always wanted to be a lawyer?"
    "As far back as I can remember."
    "That's good. I always tell people if they haven't wanted it at least that long, they should go do something else." She reached for my hand, then turned it over like a palm reader, examining the calluses on my fingertips. "How long have you been playing the guitar, Perry?"
    "Ma'am?"
    "Your fingers are a dead giveaway. Looks like you've been at it for a while."
    I blushed a little for no reason except that she was touching my hand and looking into my eyes, and the realization that I was blushing made me feel even more self-conscious. "Since fifth grade, I guess."
    "I dated several guitar players back in college. In fact, I made a career of it. Earned myself quite a little reputation at Oberlin." She smiled and I realized that she was wearing lip-gloss that was almost exactly the same shade as her natural skin tone. "Are you any good?"
    "I'm sorry?"
    "At the guitar."
    "I'm in a band called Inchworm. We're playing a show at Monty's down on Avenue A." Before I could stop myself, I blurted out the rest: "You should come check us out."
    "Excuse me?"
    "The band," I said. "I could put you on the guest list."
    "It's been a long time since I've been down on Avenue A." The elevator dinged, the doors opening on the lobby. "What night is the show?"
    "Saturday at ten o'clock. But we usually start a little later than that."
    Valerie made a little pout. "That's too bad. I'll be here all night."
    "Here at the office?"
    "Partners burn the midnight oil, Perry." She winked and gave me a look that I couldn't quite decipher. "Ask your father."
    I stepped out and watched her walk across the marble lobby past the fountain, heels clicking toward the door with the measured tick of a stopwatch counting down to silence. As she stepped out onto Third Avenue, I heard a familiar chuckle behind me.
    "You can't afford none of that fine wine, brother."
    I glanced around and saw Rufus, the sixty-eight-year-old security guard, behind the reception desk. He'd been working the six p.m. to six a.m. shift here for forty years, and the building was as much his as it was the firm's.
    "Hey," I said, "what'd she mean about my dad?"
    "Hey, man, what are you asking me for?" He held up his Times in front of his face so that all I could see was the top of his blue cap. "I didn't hear nothing. "
    "Seriously, Rufus."
    The paper edged downward, exposing a pair of watchful eyes from behind it. "Seriously? This world's a funny place and it only gets funnier the longer you live in it. And that's the truth." He picked up a Styrofoam cup and held it in my direction. "You want some coffee? Look like you could use a lift."
    "No thanks. Anyway, I have to go."
    He glanced at his watch. "Little early, ain't it?"
    "I'm done already."
    "How about an umbrella?"
    "There's not a cloud in the sky."
    "Suit yourself."
    Three blocks from Penn Station, I heard the first rumble of thunder bouncing off the skyscrapers. By the time I got to the station, I was soaked.

3
What single word best describes you, and why? (Princeton)
     
    " Dick, " Norrie, my best friend, burst out. "You are being such a dick! "
    I was up in my bedroom, talking to him on my cell phone, which I had somehow thought would be a better way of breaking the news about going to the prom ... although now I realized that