16. Finding an Apartment in Manhattan.
Guy and Harumi arrived in New York City on 1 January 2016 with a plan to stay at least one year. First on their agenda is an apartment.
At the start they sit down and talk it over. Guy is the one with the ideas because Harumi never lived in New York City and has no practical experience with usual life.
"This is going to be the ideal of the perfect apartment in Manhattan. I mean by that we are not gonna start off, like most do, worrying over the money part. I want to deal with all the good things as though we have all the money in the world.
"First is to find a living place that will be as close as possible to our sources of action. Most people worrying about money will ignore searching for a good nearby living place and end up living far from their place of action. That's why so many people who work here don't live in Manhattan. And speaking of price, we have to deal with the question of buying versus renting. Up until the 1960's, everything was rented. The great advantage was that you did not need the capital, all you needed was several month's rent and good references. Those were the old, good days; but now, overpopulation has taken that away and the greedy capitalists realized the fact that because the numbers of people seeking apartments are growing at a greater rate than the number of good apartments, a huge amount of money could be made for the capitalists by forcing the renters to buy their apartment space as though it were a piece of space-property - they called it a condominium. In so doing, they were able to increase the amount of money one paid for the apartment a hundred-fold and they got around that by telling potential renters that if you buy your apartment you are buying a property that will become a value and when you leave it you will become super rich by selling it. And second, they said to the renters who may exclaim 'But I don't have the money!' 'No problem! You borrow it from the bank!'
"Now, this was a classic Ponzi scheme in that the first few generations of people who bought condos in a place like Manhattan, sold them at a big profit because there had been created a huge market for new condominiums in Manhattan. From then on however, more and more people who bought condominiums had to be paying off 30 year mortgages and the condos were just aging property that no longer made enough profit to cover the mortgage. And the other zinger is that even though the come-on to buy a condo was that you were exchanging renting for ownership, you still pay rent on a condo but it is called monthly"carrying charge."
"So what do we do?" asks Harumi, not surprised by the grossness of capitalism and the stupidity that has led humanity to overpopulate according to capitalism's idea that growth is always the answer because a bigger market and more profit.
"We can still rent but you have to really search-out good places."
"Where"
"The Century"
"What's that?"
"We go there today after breakfast to meet an old pal of mine, Claude"
After Breakfast, Meeting Claude
The above conversation was before breakfast in the dining room of the West Side YMCA where they had been staying. It is on the north side of 63rd Street, just a few steps west of Central Park West, and an ideal location at fabulous low price for travelers to Manhattan.
Now they sit down at a table in the Tasty Bit Cafe on lobby floor of the Y and have breakfast. Today it starts with 2 flapjack pancakes and butter in between and maple syrup generously atop and a beside plate of 2 sunny-side-up eggs over with salad, a sausage and a bacon strip. Cups of coffee start them off. Both share a single course of breakfast in what Harumi calls communist style, which is eating from same plate portion. In this way they cut calories in half from the usual individualistic eating and also reduce toxic fats and chemicals. Harumi has taught Guy this type of eating which has given her, her healthy longevity and she hopes will give him it too.
After breakfast and freshening up, Guy leads Harumi out onto West 63rd Street, they cross to south side of street and walk down to Central Park West, 1 minute away, execute a right turn on the sidewalk and in another minute they are entering under the street awning of Century.
At the Concierge's desk, Guy shows his card. "We're for 10Q, Mr Giroux."
A minute later they are at the door and Claude is there, a small compact white haired well preserved into his 80's man. "Nice to see you folks? You come well recommended by my doctor Stan. Come on in."
First he takes then on a tour of the baroque flat.
Then he sits them down and makes a surprising and happily received offer.
"You appear to me to be the most interesting couple I have seen in a long time. And a couple that are a man and a woman: distinctly pleasurable to my 80+ year old eyes that have grown unhappily accustomed to "gay all the way".
He pours an Oolong tea into each of 3 cups and toasts them. "To your long happiness."
Harumi smiles and adds "Not so long. I'm over 90 years old."
"Wha!" Claude looks at her deeply. I would have thought you just passed 60. How ...?"
Guy replies for Harumi who does not like to boast. "She follows advice in Physician's Notebooks, a tome on Healthy Longevity by an obscure physician from the Bronx."
"Boy, I want that! Where?" He stops, realizing he has not introduced. "Oh, excuse me, I am Claude Giroux and, before you ask, I cannot get your work published. That is my distant cousin, Robert." He thinks for a second. "But maybe this Physician's Notebooks?"
To Guy. "I guess you are a hundred?"
Guy laughs, "No, not yet. But I'm working on it by using Physician's Notebooks."
They sit in a wide living room with paintings of renaissance masters on the walls and a large window giving a view east and north over Central Park.
"What a pleasure to have an opposite-sex couple to tea," Claude says in a joking manner. "You know, nowadays it's all same-sex everything. Between you and me I hate it. Now, tell me what brings you to me.
"We plan to live in Manhattan for exactly one year and hoped you could give us advice on finding a place.
"Love to, my friend." He eyes, Harumi. "She is the best thing I've seen in ages. How would you like to live in my bachelorette 3 flights up?"
"Like to?" Guy nearly shouts. "We'd love to!"
"Then here is the key." He takes it out of a vest pocket. The rest of their meeting passes and next they are upstairs 3 flights up, in the bachelorette.
17. The Bachelorette
Three days later, Harumi and Guy are relaxing on the sofa in the living room of the bachelorette. Immediately to the left is a penthouse-view northeast over New York Cities massive Central Park.
Harumi, not normally given to expressive expletives but affected by Guy's slang says, "Wow! If I may use your word. This is beyond even my imagination."
(Ed. This ends Slim Novel 18 because at the moment, I have nothing further on what happens. Perhaps later we will continue it, so keep checking. )
To read next chapter now, click on Slim Novel 19.1
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