As a Tenaflician who lives half an hour from the center of the world, New York City, I have been routinely visiting the city every once in a while. Whether to shop or to catch a glimpse of the real world. Last Saturday, not acknowledging the flood warning, my friends and I decided to celebrate a birthday in the city.
Like always, we were late for the NJ Transit 167 bus, which led us to wander around for another fifteen minutes, waiting to hop onto the next one. The sky was gray. Like always, the feeling of “I’m in New York now”—the traffic, the crowds, and the concrete jungles—emerged along with chatters. Eventually, it started drizzling.
After relying on our human GPS Grace for subway routes, we could finally breathe some fresh air and no longer feel like a New York City rat. I was so marinated in the rotting smell of the underground subway stations that it probably coated my Jo Malone Peony & Blush Suede Cologne. Soho was packed as usual. The waiting line wrapped around Edikted, and everyone was uncomfortably close to each other; the water droplets from the umbrellas dripped onto our shoes, but little did we know the droplets were only the beginning.
In the store, despite the scattered umbrellas, the little dirty rain spots on the floor added to the ambiance, amplifying the squeaky sounds of sneakers and drenching whatever unfortunate belonging fell on the ground. All the shoppers’ soles were filthy as they were now stuck with an emulsified mixture of rain and little dust particles, not to mention everyone’s having stepped on some questionable objects (it’s the city. Who knows?). It started raining.
Though Edikted was packed, it did not stop us teenage girls from getting what we wanted. We spent at least an hour there; 80% of the time, we were just waiting in line to try on outfits. After each outfit, Olivia and Anoushka came out asking, “How does this look?” If we gave a subtle headshake, it was a no. Completely hooked on those outfits, we looked over the fact that the sky was dark now, and instead of raining cats and dogs, it was raining cows and hogs.
Upon the first step, we realized this was not some ordinary rain. The tilted sidewalks were filled to the brim with rain. Each time that we had to cross the road, we had to make a powerful jump, or else the depth of the ponds would entirely soak us up to the ankles. In addition to the drenching rain, the wind made things more unbearable. It was coming from all directions. Nothing was able to effectively protect me because the rain defied gravity. Eventually, Lucy set herself free and accepted fate, put away her umbrella, and walked with ease like never before—she was completely soaked. Her North Face puffer jacket was depuffed and darkened by five shades. Once every ten steps, we saw someone’s umbrella being flipped inside out, and so did ours. Each time that I tried to flip the umbrella back to its original state, the droplets would splash onto my face and directly target the only minuscule dry spots that I had left on my jacket. In my left hand, I held bulging shopping bags; in my right hand, I held the umbrella, but the wind blew increasingly forcefully, so I had to use two hands to clench it. The entire time we were crouching, trying to fight off the wind resistance. Every single movement was suddenly comical. We started laughing while running in the rain, holding onto the shopping bags with slowly ripping edges, stepping onto each other’s wet shoes (with wet socks), gripping every arm in sight, tucking our hair behind our ears every five seconds, and chasing after the human GPS.
At last, we were able to set foot in the restaurant. It was then that I realized how bad of an idea a spherical door handle is, especially when it’s slippery. The waiter quickly rushed up to us, handing us plastic bags to put our umbrellas in, but we were the ones more in need of plastic bags because we were sopping wet.
On our way back, dripping in the bus, all of us were exhausted. Though we were silent, it was clear to each of us that we just shared an unforgettable, blissful memory. Today, the city was extra drippy.
