Chapter 1.5

Chapter 6

He had just arrived at his apartment and was getting ready for the shower before going to dinner with Paula. Federico had already undressed when he heard the classic sound of his cell phone informing that he had received a message through what's app. The boy had the impulse to read it at the moment but he felt a shiver attributable to the habit of the building manager, no doubt following the landlord's instructions, to put the heating down during the day thinking that at that time the apartments were empty as all the tenants worked . Heating was only turned on after five in the afternoon, so the rooms would have a warm temperature at night. The fear of getting a cold convinced him to have a shower first and read the message on his way out.

Federico was dressing up to walk the three blocks that separated his house from Paula's when the message came back to his mind. He finished putting his shoes and picked up the cell phone, tucking it into the jean's back pocket. Then he put on his coat jacket and fetched the house keys, opened the door of the apartment and was ready to leave when he remembered the message again. He pulled the device out of his back pocket and activated it, looking for the what's app icon, reading the message immediately.

"Seat 14B."

"But what the hell ...?" He exclaimed as a vague memory made its way into his mind. At that moment he heard again the sound of the cell phone announcing the arrival of another message.

"Remember Gramercy Park."

This time a ray of clarity spread over the haze caused by the first message. Mixed feelings created a moment of uncertainty. The message only showed him the telephone number from which the call came. The young man pressed then the "Contacts" icon of the cell phone and looked for the name to which the number belonged, which confirmed his suspicions. Again the cell phone rang but this time it was a conventional call. Federico took it immediately.

"I'm waiting with dinner ready. Are you coming or not?"

Paula's voice brought him back to reality.

"I'm leaving my house right now. I just took a shower before."

Federico felt a bit annoyed at having to give explanations but that was how things worked out at that time. He decided to postpone the analysis of the what's app's calls for the time he returned home, so he closed the door and headed for Montague St.

Pretexting a certain indisposition he left the Paula´s apartment somewhat earlier than it used to do. She said good bye to him with a pitiful face.

"Are you sure you do not need any medication? Are you going to work tomorrow?"

Federico hated to worry the girl, but he had in his mind an urgency to clear the questions that hid behind the messages received earlier and to accordingly elucidate his own desires.

When he arrived home he lay down in bed, which he rarely did. He picked up the cell phone, activated it, and displayed the last message again, staring at the phone as if asking it to reveal its meaning. He debated with himself what attitude to adopt until the obvious answer prevailed.

Okay! It was already clear, but how would he do it? He did not want to feel bad if the message did not mean what he thought, or if it was really intended for someone else and what'sapp had played the sender a bad joke. Federico realized immediately that all these repairs were absurd and that 14A could only be addressed to him. He made a decision, picked up the cell phone he had left on the bed and answered the texts with a brief message that sought to clarify the situation.

On her taxi ride from La Guardia Airport to her home in Manhattan, Lena pulled her cell phone out of her purse and turned it off from "Airplane Mode." Although she wished not to yield to anxiety and act impulsively, the woman immediately sought out the messages she had received. From the dozen texts she immediately found the one she was looking for, and a smile appeared in her lips.

"Wishing to meet 14A again. "

Upon arriving home Lena was exultant. She did not want to get illusions that could expose her to get disappointed later, but the response message unexpectedly opened a window that could shed light on the pit of her most pressing anxieties. The woman remembered the moment when she had first seen Federico looking for his seat down the aisle of the plane, and only then did she acknowledge that she had actually made an irrevocable decision at that moment. The subsequent talk with him had persuaded her that he was an intelligent young man of good nature, perhaps a bit naive. Her super-ego, that moral instance that was an implacable judge of the activities of the ego that had been inculcated by her Irish Catholic mother, reproached Lena for having set her eyes on a man at least fifteen years younger, but actually understood that his youth would actually make her conquest more rewarding. Lena did not want to abandon her values and beliefs, but she felt the need of removing the dead weight of conventions to which she no longer found any meaning and live according to her physical and psychic needs and reassure her spirit that lately was lacking in tranquility.

Lena left her coat on an armchair, her suitcase standing on its wheels in the middle of the hall and headed for the telephone. Then she dialed the phone number of the house of her parents who lived in Queens. She was relieved when her father took the call her because she was not ready to talk to her mother. Bernard Javit had always been more condescending and infinitely closer to his daughter than his wife Sheila. The conversation lasted almost half an hour during which father and daughter shared news of their respective lives. Lena, although she told of her brief trip to Miami, took great care to avoid commenting that she had gone with Laurent and of course to speak about Federico.

Once the call was over, Lena felt that talking at length with her father had allowed her to release certain tensions by opening a valve to express her rejoicing.

As soon as she cut off the communication Bernard Javit ran to the door of his apartment and let in his wife who came from the supermarket with her arms loaded and could not get the key in the lock. The husband took most of the packages and carried them to the kitchen, followed by his wife who carried the rest.

"Before I forget, Lena called." He said. " We just cut the call."

"Did she tell you where she is now?" Sheila asked. "I called her home twice on Monday and got no answer, and she did not answer the message I left."

“ She just got back from Miami a few minutes before she called."

"She did not say she was leaving."

" Apparently she decided to go suddenly. She said she needed a break after the trip to South America."

"Was she alone? I mean in Miami."

"He did not tell me otherwise. If you want to ask, call her. You know her phone number."

"What was her mood?"

"She sounded exultant for the first time in a long time. Please if you call her make sure not to change that." Bernard knew his wife well.

Federico also felt compelled to talk to his family after the message, as if the reestablishment of lost contacts through what's app reminded all interlocutors of certain long neglected filial duties. In this case he also spoke with his father who then passed the telephone tube to his mother. Federico had to repeat the explanation of his activities from his arrival in New York, city that his parents knew fairly well.

"So you've moved to Brooklyn Heights? How do you like the place? Is it as your father and I knew it so many years ago?"

"I think it's the same and very different."

“Where do you live exactly?"

“In Henry St."

"We lived on Hicks St."

"It´s very close."

"And tell me, is there any lady you'd like to tell your mother about?"

"Only co-workers." The young man wanted to minimize his mother's expectations.

“What's up? Have New York women lost their appetite for good-looking men?"

“I do not think so. Well, now I must get into bed. What time is it in Buenos Aires right now?”

“ Half past eleven p.m.”

“ I´m sorry! I did not remember the time difference before calling you. How come you did not go to bed yet?"

"Since your father retired, we changed our schedules."

Federico also felt relief after talking to his family. He went to bed with an idea hanging around his head.