January, 2004
New York, NY
Linda Draper, Moving, Etc.
Writer/Photography: Steve Frank
Here's
how it all went down. I called Linda when I was heading into the city, Linda
called back a little later and arranged to meet Saturday night to eat and
talk. We decided that Benny's would be the best place to get together, so
we could go see a friend of hers having a CD release party across the street
at the Sidewalk Café.
I arrived a little early to Benny's Burritos and ordered a tea while
I waited for Linda, we spoke sometime before briefly describing ourselves.
That conversation was funny, Linda kept describing herself and what she
wore, and it was pretty much the same as nearly all the other females in
the city. She got to the meeting place within the 'ish' time frame. The
moment we met it was much like any first meeting...a little awkward, but
soon after being seated by the waitress we struck up some small talk, and
shortly after we found that we had more in common. We both grew up in Westchester
County, our conversation covered more topics, all from the hip (so to speak).
The way everything flowed, I regret not taping it, it would have been a
great interview...no stumbling for any witty retort, just strait forward
answers, a comfort that had been established and formed due to our commonality.
I had been concerned about all of my stuff in the truck, so we took it back
to my friends place in Brooklyn (Williamsburg), that took a little longer
than I had expected, I wanted to pick up something for my friend for whom
I would be staying with and apologized to Linda for the delay in returning
for her friends CD release. We hopped on the subway and hoofed it to the
Sidewalk Café, nearly an hour later, the place was completely
packed, who would have thought, certainly not I. I again apologized to Linda,
she said it was nothing and we went downstairs, where we could hear the
performers, but unable to see anything. We meet the main folk performer,
and some of her other fellow performers while sitting downstairs.
We stayed a little while longer and then parted shortly before 1am, I think?
Anyway , it was late and pretty cold. The next day I received a call from
Linda asking me about my truck and if I would still be able to help her.
My offer was still good, so about 4pm I headed over to Harlem to give my
services in moving Linda to her new place, I had a nice brunch with my friend
Steph, and got in touch with some other people earlier that day. So I'm
sitting there waiting for someone to show up, it took a few minutes before
Linda came down with the first pieces, and then the big stuff came down.
We were able to take all her stuff in two vehicles. This person was her
best friend 'Gen', very nice guy, we unloaded everything and then Linda
and I ended up taking some photos, while there was a little light left.
This was planned, except for the location, it seems that her place was suitable
for getting some prints. We ended up getting hungry in the process, so we
went to the neighborhood diner, it was really swank for a diner, and we
took a few more photos before going back to her place. We said our goodbyes
and I felt as though I had re-established an old friendship when I left,
I thanked her for the company and drove off back to
Brooklyn.
