Chapter 1 Once Upon a Subway

Leah was giddy as she walked down the subway steps. It was her first night out in New York City and she was wearing her very special dress that people always said made her look like Carrie Bradshaw. She'd been dreaming of this day since the TV show series ended around the time of her Bat Mitzvah. Her mom had thought Leah was too young to watch the show (There is so much sex! And they are so materialistic!) but Leah watched it anyway, sneaking in episodes after her parents went to sleep. She wanted to remind her mom that it wasn't all about sex and clothing. They were career women! And they were powerful! And what about the importance of friendship! But she never said those things to her mom, she'd never understand. All her mom cared about was what her friends from the Synagogue Chavurah thought and who from her Bat Mitzvah class was getting married or a master's degree.

Leah was getting neither, but she felt infinitely more successful than her peers. She'd just graduated from Brandeis with a Journalism degree and she'd somehow landed a dream job as a researcher at Diamond Media for Teen Club. In no time, she would be a junior reporter and she was sure by 30 she'd be an editor. All inspired by Carrie Bradshaw!

Her New York dream also came with a quaint apartment in the basement of an Upper East Side building. Ok, it was the Upper Upper East Side, some might have called it Harlem, and it barely had the closet space she'd expected after years of dreaming about Carrie Bradshaw. But it was close to the subway and didn't exceed her budget by too much. She also had a roommate, a friend of a friend who she'd had dinner with once and they agreed they could probably live together. Leah was optimistic they'd be friends themselves, despite their differing opinions of how to set up their living room.

They still hadn't agreed on where to put the TV, but they had enough sense to decide that it could wait for the next day. They were tired after a full day of moving in and Leah had wanted to start experiencing New York. A friend of hers from Brandeis had told her about an event that night, that would be a great place to start. "This girl Jennifer from my temple met her husband at one of those events!" her friend had said, as though it was the best endorsement anyone could give.

Leah wasn't sure she was ready for a husband, but she'd be happy to meet someone. She'd only dated one person in her life, which she felt was very un-Carrie Bradshaw-like and now that she was in New York it was time to date and meet a lot of people. She was also looking for her own Charlotte, Samantha, and Miranda who would experience New York with her and complete her group of powerful, ambitious, and beautiful women.

She'd asked her roommate if she wanted to join for the evening, but her roommate declined, citing the evening's TV schedule that she simply couldn't miss. So Leah would go alone. Isn't that what Carrie would have done?

She swiped her card to get into the subway and looked for a map. She'd already checked on her phone how to get there, but seeing as she still wasn't used to public transportation, a second look couldn't hurt. She saw the map in the middle of the platform and started walking toward it.

As she stood confirming her route (yes, she had been right), a man who had been sitting on the platform floor stood and started singing. "Oohhhh I want to dance with somebody! I want to feel the heat with somebody!" The man clapped along with his singing, making eye contact with everyone on the platform. Leah noticed that everyone seemed to ignore him, despite the amount of noise his claps and voice were making. When he caught her eye, Leah couldn't help but smile. She nodded her head and gently sang along "Yeah, I want to dance with somebody! With somebody who loves me. "

"Yeaaahhh, feel it girl!" the man said to Leah. The next moment, the man opened his jacket and stuck his arm inside. Leah panicked and wondered if he was reaching for a gun. Didn't that happen in New York? Her mom had warned her that New York was dangerous! But this man singing Whitney Houston seemed so nice! Leah immediately turned and wanted to run away, but she saw the lights of the Subway car approaching and she was afraid that if she wasn't ready, she could miss it.

"Come on, lady! Come on!" the man screamed at Leah, his arm outstretched to her. "You gonna leave me hanging like that?" Leah wasn't sure what he wanted from her, but he seemed angry and the people pleaser inside her didn't want to leave him hanging, whatever that meant. "Come on now! That's not right!" He was screaming at her and a few of the other people on the platform were starting to steal glances while pretending they didn't notice. She looked around, hoping there would be a cop or someone. "What's wrong with you?!" He was in her face, much closer to her than she'd expected. She could smell the sweat on him, the mildew from clothes that hadn't been washed in who knows how long.

Leah leaned back, her head hitting the Subway map behind her. "Gimme a dollar!" he screamed right in her face. "Gimme a dollar!" Leah could see the Subway approaching. All she wanted to do was jump in the car and find herself a place to sit on her way downtown. But she was stuck, how could she get past him?

"Here you go, sir." Leah heard a man's voice. She turned to see someone holding a dollar between her and her accoster's face. "It's from the lady, you can leave her alone now." The man took the dollar and scuttled down the Subway platform, probably to sing and harass another innocent victim.

"You OK?" the man asked. Leah looked at him, her savior in a suit with the top shirt button opened.

"Oh, yeah," she stuttered. "Fine."

He motioned to the Subway car that was waiting with its doors open. "Don't want to miss it."

She nodded and started toward the car. When inside, she turned and smiled at the man. "They get angry if you make eye contact and then don't give them money. Rookie mistake," he said. She laughed and shook her head. "Enjoy your stay in New York!"

"Oh—" The Subway doors shut in her face, just as she was about to correct him. She wasn't a tourist! She was living here! She was a New Yorker! Or at least in the process of becoming one! The Subway shot downtown and Leah grabbed onto a pole as she lost her balance and almost flew to the back of the car.

It was like an initiation exercise, she told herself. Getting accosted by a homeless person happened to every New Yorker, right? She was now one step closer to belonging. She shook it off, and took a deep breath, trying to channel her inner Carrie Bradshaw. This was it. Her New York dream was about to begin.