Day One

Summer rain. It sounds like a cliche, so many songs, the opening to a middle-school poem. But the intensity of the summer rain in New York is a force of weather unlike any I've experienced. The skies darken dramatically, flash with lightning, and rain absolutely pounds the pavement. New Yorkers always carry an umbrella. Coral hasn't learned this lesson yet. It's my first day alone in New York, and the merciless heat has lead me to Rite Aid to buy a fan. I am lugging it back to my apartment for a little longer than I expected when I realize I'm lost. This, coincidentally, is when the first boom of thunder alerts me that New York does nothing half-heartedly.
I've never truly been lost before. But I am in beautiful old Park Slope, wandering my way past brownstone after brownstone, each older than the last. New to Brooklyn, it entrances me, that I live amongst this history. The sudden rain is my reminder that my life in New York may indeed resemble a movie. Here I am, sweating in my strapless dress, lugging a fan larger than myself, lost in a thunderstorm on my first day in New York.
It's all too perfect that this is my first experience hailing a cab. Well, I thought I did a bang-up job and had cemented this day in movie-worthy history. As an experienced New Yorker I now look back on my first hailing and berate my lack of self-assertion. I've gotten better with experience, but I still have miles to go.
The cab did pull over, but only to let another passenger out, and when I ambled inside, fan-first, the cabbie was as surprised to see me as if a large Great Dane had decided to hitch a ride.
"I thought you were his friend," the cabbie said to me in the rear-view mirror, alluding to the man who had just exited.
I was so unsure of what I was doing I could have thrown up. "17th Street and 6th Avenue?" I said, basically asking him where I was going.
"That's not on my route, but I'll take you since it's so close."
And within minutes, I had a new best friend. Simply telling him that it was this California girl's first day in Brooklyn led to a history lesson on each of the buildings we passed by. He proudly told me of his experiences in Los Angeles, and I shared my few experiences in New York.
He pulled up to my apartment and I awkwardly maneuvered the fan out of the cab and back into the pouring rain. We each said thank you to the other and I climbed the stairs to my front door. I was visibly proud of myself, and bursting with excitement over being in New York and having hailed my first cab. The rain continued through the night and, combined with the humming of my new fan, provided a new soundtrack for sleep.