The Sentinel Read Free

forms.
    Miss Logan completed the arrangement of her desk. The room was silent for several minutes, then she swiveled around, sat back and stated, "You're from the Midwest."
    "Yes," Allison answered, lifting her head.
    "I can hear it in your voice."
    "I didn't know the drawl was so prominent."
    "It's not, but it's there for someone who can recognize it. I'm from Peoria, Illinois, myself, but I've lost the intonation. I've been here fifteen years."
    Allison smiled and continued to write.
    "You just get to New York?"
    "No."
    "I didn't think so." Miss Logan was craning her neck, curious as to the answers on the form. "You'll be living alone?" she asked.
    "Yes," Allison answered, annoyed at the constant interruption. "With an occasional visitor."
    "I live alone."
    Allison raised her eyes. "How nice," she remarked.
    "I prefer it that way. It gives me more freedom. I can do what I wish whenever I wish. And solitude is good after dealing with people six days a week, ten hours a day."
    Allison nodded indifferently, then completed the questionnaire and scanned the commission notice. "Where do I sign?" she asked.
    Miss Logan leaned over and pointed. Allison scribbled her signature and returned the forms. The woman quickly reviewed them.
    "A model," she declared. "That's a very interesting profession. All that glamour and excitement. Twenty-six years old. Single. No relatives in the city, but good references." She smiled reassuringly. "It looks fine. I'm sure the landlord will approve." She looked at her watch. "Shall we go?"
    Allison stood and followed the agent as she walked to the door and pulled a fashionless tweed coat from a rusted nail on the wall.
    "Are you sure the staircase is secure?" Allison inquired, half jokingly.
    "Perfectly," replied the agent. She threw on her coat. "Just a little harrowing. To make life interesting." She motioned Allison out, set the lock and slammed the door. "I've been in this building five years, and though it looks like it's falling apart, it's sturdy." The landing squeaked under her feet as she grabbed the banister. "I've thought about renovating a portion of the second floor and even the staircase, but that wouldn't make any financial sense. I suppose I'll get out of here sooner or later, but, you know, once you get used to something, you don't like to leave it. The office is like a second home."
    "I understand," Allison replied. "I'm a little like that myself."
    "Midwesterners are. They have a more finely developed sense of home and sentiment than New Yorkers. I rarely find New Yorkers having a sense for anything but sex and money."
    "I guess there's something to be said for that too," observed Allison.
    "Each to his own," said Miss Logan obliquely as she opened the front door.
    They stepped onto the street into a tide of shattered sunlight painted in striations by a descending sun through barren trees; they hailed a taxi.
    It was a standard New York brownstone. Five floors. Extremely old. Engagingly battered.
    Allison paid the driver; they stepped from the cab.
    "One of the nicer tree-lined blocks in New York," declared the agent as she started her sales pitch.
    Allison pivoted and glanced up and down the narrow street lined with brownstones.
    "And it's convenient," Miss Logan added. "There's a subway on Ninety-sixth and Central Park West. There's another on Broadway. There are plenty of buses, and cabs are easy to get. And, of course, you have the park."
    They began to climb the stone staircase to the raised front entrance.
    "Around the far corner there is a supermarket. There's also a cleaner's nearby and a hardware store."
    Allison digested the geography lesson as Miss Logan smiled broadly, Allison's look of satisfaction having added fuel to the impending sale.
    "We've become slaves to convenience," said Allison.
    "New York does that."
    "Unfortunately."
    "Shall we?" asked the renting agent as she opened the heavy front door and stepped into the rectangular hallway.
    Allison followed, admiring