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Post by Nathan on May 28, 2007 17:42:23 GMT -5
Nathan stretched his arms a bit as he looked down at the water. I had been one hell of a day at work and his body just seemed to hurt. He looked down at the water and smiled a bit...a swim sounded really good though. He was just minutes away from jumping when he heard someone approaching and turned to see who it was.
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Post by Anne-Marie on May 28, 2007 17:49:18 GMT -5
Anne-Marie liked to take walks. Sometimes she found herself mindlessly wandering up all the way to Houston Street before realizing where she was. Often, her strolls took her down to the docks. She ignored the catcalls and long looks of the dockhands and always favoured the piers farthest out and most empty. She would sit on the end and gaze out at the river and the ships gliding across its surface.
Today was such a day. Yet, when she went out to the usually empty docks, she found someone there. He was looking long and hard at the water, as though at any minute he would dive in. "That water's filthy, you know," she said, unabashed that she was striking up a conversation with a complete stranger.
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Post by Nathan on May 28, 2007 17:49:42 GMT -5
"Nothing I couldn't wash off later." he answered wanting to feel the weightless feeling with nothing under him but more water.
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Post by Anne-Marie on May 28, 2007 17:50:35 GMT -5
Oh, a smart guy, was he? "Alright," she told him, coming a step closer and looking over the dock into the water. She nearly shivered as she thought of all the things she'd seen dock workers and the like throw into the river. "But if you suddenly find yourself sick, don't say that I didn't warn you."
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Post by Nathan on May 28, 2007 17:51:26 GMT -5
"I've swam in it many times...not sick yet. Never been the cleanest right by the dock itself but just a little further out and it's rather nice." he stated, "Thanks for the concern. You should always take a risk or two in life." Nate crossed his arms across his chest as he looked at her giving her a warm smile
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Post by Anne-Marie on May 28, 2007 17:51:52 GMT -5
"I've taken plenty of risks," she replied. She glanced at the water and curled her lip. "This is not one I'm willing to take. It's a shame though - so pretty to look at, yet so disgusting underneath. There should really be some sort of law against dumping things in it." She languidly fingered a wooden post as she spoke, still keeping her distance from the boy she was speaking to. "I should put in a word to Tammany Hall. Not like they'll listen to me though, a girl. I'm not rich, and I'm not Irish. That's three strikes against me."
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Post by Nathan on May 28, 2007 17:52:21 GMT -5
"Yeah good luck with that. Not much we can do about something like this." he stated, "So where you off to all by your lonesome. You know a sweet little thing like you should not be around here without anything for protection. Not the best of men populate this area at this time of night."
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Post by Anne-Marie on May 28, 2007 17:52:47 GMT -5
"Sweet little thing...." she mused, with a laugh and a roll of of eyes. She got that sort of thing all the time. From drunk patrons with wives and four kids. "I'm not as sweet at you might think," was her response. It was true, but claiming she was completely tough was also a lie. "Don't worry, I come here all the time. I don't linger long. I'm due at work in about an hour. I just come out here to kill time. Not much to do all day but kill time in between shifts."
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Post by Nathan on May 28, 2007 17:53:18 GMT -5
"I meant no harm by the phrase." he commented, "Where do you work?" Nathan was really a nice guy and wouldn't think of doing anything disrespectful.
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Post by Anne-Marie on May 28, 2007 17:53:33 GMT -5
"City Gardens.....the nightclub, not an actual garden. Though, a real garden would be nicer. It's a fancy bar right next to the Whitmore Hotel. It's for tourists and rich men to take their wives, and sometimes find a mistress. I'm a barmaid. All of the barmaids are women, and most of the us are mistresses to rich business men. Demimonde. I'm not one of them though," she told him proudly, her head held defiantly high. "I'm just there because it's cleaner than other pubs. And it pays better, not much better - but a little. I work mostly at night. So, I have my days free to roam."
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Post by Nathan on May 28, 2007 17:53:51 GMT -5
"Must be hard to have friends when you're working nights and they're working days. Sometimes that's for the best anyway." he said He watched her for a bit somewhat glad she hadn't sold herself short and become a mistress like that. Those girls went nowhere no matter who she was with.
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Post by Anne-Marie on May 28, 2007 17:54:21 GMT -5
"It is hard. Very hard," she said, gazing off into the distance. A ship, a fishing boat, was sailing by in the distance. Making friends when you had a night job was hard. But the difficulty of it became compounded when all you were bent on locking yourself in your room, remaining sullen and angry at the world for so long. It had taken Anne-Marie a long time to finally stop locking herself away, and when she did, she had begun her walks.
She didn't really have any friends. She had the girls at work that she talked to a bit. But they really had nothing in common and nothing much to say to each other. Besides them, she had no one. Everyone she loved was back in France. Or dead.
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Post by Nathan on May 28, 2007 17:54:50 GMT -5
"You dont really seem much the type to be working with those types." he commented randomly she was too sweet looking, innocent almost. Or so it seemed. He was sure she could take care of herself but she wasn't like the girls he'd seen working in those types of jobs. They were more filled with lies and lust.
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Post by Anne-Marie on May 28, 2007 17:55:18 GMT -5
"Good," was her answer. "Good. I don't ever want to be like them. Them or the people that frequent the bar. Rich, frivolous people who fling money left and right. Who get drunk and stupid and waste away so much of their life. Thing is, they've got everything and most of them don't even look happy, you know? They all look kind of dead inside." She realized that she started on one of her passionate tirades and quickly shut up. What did he care anyway. "At least to me," she added quietly, to make herself seem not so crazed.
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Post by Nathan on May 28, 2007 17:56:31 GMT -5
"Dont stop there...please continue..." he prodded wanting to hear more of what she thought. It wasn't all that often you'd find a woman that would go off like that.
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