Jesse Lives! - Pg. 6

Chapter 2.

A few weeks after the time he brought me the token, after I had paid him back and begun paying thirty cents each day for my used Times, I arrived at the subway stop to find him conversing with a group of tourists in German. It was by no means perfect German. His accent lent his German a softness it generally lacked, and his word order and grammar were faulty. Many times he groped for words, miming and using his hands while watching the tourists to see if they understood. The Germans suggested words, both German and English, and with a lot of effort on all sides, communication was being accomplished. It was a lot better than I could have done with my two years of college German.

He spotted me and waved a Times. “Miss Claudie! Miss Claudie! Help me out, will you? These folks want to go to Times Square. Will you show them where to get the shuttle at 42nd?”

How could I not? How could I not do more? I got them a map at the token window. I showed them the route they would be taking. I got off at 42nd and walked them to the shuttle. (I did it all without speaking a word of German, I realized afterward.) I acted just like the West Virginian I was. And I felt proud of it. I decided that in this one respect, if nothing else, I would be true to my roots. I would help out any and all tourists I came upon needing help (especially Europeans). They, if no one else, would think of me as a real New Yorker, after all.

I resolved to ask Jesse his name (I still didn’t know his name yet) and to ask him how he came to speak German. and that weekend I had my chance. I headed out Saturday evening to buy the Sunday Times which becomes available in Manhattan usually around seven the evening before. Jesse didn’t deal in the Sunday Times. Those who bought it discarded it section by section, and there were sometime nine or more sections. Yet there he was outside the subway. He seemed to have diversified his business. Now he was selling roses, one by one, to the couples that passed in and out of the station, sounding as if he knew the history of each couple.