City Girl

A Chapter by Sherry Jolly

Just more random writing - playing around with ideas

Chapter One

*******************Hope**************************

Hope looked out over the Detroit River as she took her daily trudge along the boardwalk. She wasn’t moving quite fast enough to call it a full jog, but it wasn’t exactly brisk waddling either. Her long, wavy strawberry blonde hair bounced back and forth, not entirely secure in its pony tail holder. She would slow down here and there to talk to the regulars. Some, like herself, were out for exercise and health. Others were crazy enough to sling their poles over the rails into the chilly water below. A few seemed to live there on the docks, sleeping on the wooden benches and huddling under the grand oak trees.

It was fairly warm for late October. The sun shone through the golden leaves, dappled light playing on the surface exuding a brilliant display of gold. Hope had left her flat in only two layers of fleece at sunrise, instead of the more common three-layer ensemble. She plugged her earbuds back into place after saying hello to Mr. Mulligan and feigning surprise over his empty fish bucket. Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” blasted into her eardrums and she smiled despite herself. Adele was her favorite voice. Sarah Bareilles was a close second.

Five miles into her morning, she crossed West Jefferson and headed back to the two-story, brick duplex. 12 cracked cement steps led to her front door, which she had recently painted a “Martha Stewart blue”, as her sister Eva called it. Picking up the daily papers, she unlocked the three deadbolts and walked inside to the welcoming scent of orange blossoms. Next in her daily ritual, she hung up her jacket and put her shoes in the closet, put a pot of tea on the stovetop, grabbed her fuzzy robe and headed to the shower.

Two hours later she sat at her retro 60’s dining table finishing up the last of the papers. Her hair billowed around her like an untamed lioness. She ran her fingers through it and as most days, simply gave up. Dressed in a pinstriped charcoal pencil skirt, patterned hose, burgundy chunky patent leather heels and a classic silk blouse, she headed out to the Detroit Daily building.

Hope drove a flashy red Charger. She had a deep passion for muscle cars, especially those manufactured locally. She plugged her i-Pod in to the speakers and shuffled through the songs until she found what she was looking for. Monday mornings always called for something upbeat and head bangin’. This morning was Guns n’ Roses, “Welcome to the Jungle”. Ten minutes later she was pulling into the parking tower, top floor so she could take a daily pic for her blog. The view from the 8-floor parking structure was amazing. Detroit was her city and she loved it.

The Detroit Daily was a print and online paper geared toward the under-fifty crowd. With a slight slant toward the left, the D-Daily captured the attention of urban and suburban dwellers alike. Colorful editorials, stylized book, movie, and restaurant reviews and hard-hitting shopping and fashion pages made the paper current and relevant to what Detroiters craved. Of the moment local and world headlines with some of the best new journalists brought kind words from even the most devout News & FreePress readers.

Hope glossed by most of the cubicles before stopping in front of a disorganized upheaval of randomness. She sat her Luis Vuitton purse on the empty chair and glanced around looking for her best friend, Bree. The 20-something newcomer was out interviewing a new designer on the scene by the looks of her haphazardly strewn Day Planner sitting open on the desk. Hope picked up her bag and unlocked the door to her office.

Ten voicemails and 48 e-mails later, Hope finally opened her blog page to read and respond to comments left about yesterday’s post entitled, “Forgiveness”. The purple page jumped to life before her, complete with a caricature of herself nestled in the corner and the title “Daily Hope” printed in cursive across the top. This was the outcome of her last year of work. A compilation of wisdom, goofiness, reviews, interviews, personal thoughts - pretty much everything she wrote garnered enthusiasm with her thousands of readers each day.

The comments varied as they always did. Some poked fun at her idea that forgiving someone who hurt you was integral to moving on in life. Others thanked her for her input and posted their own stories about forgiveness. Hope answered several questions left in the comment section and deleted a few which were inappropriate.

The sound of her phone buzzing brought her back to herself.

A text from her good friend, and recent ex, Paul.

-Practice tonight?-

Hope’s burgundy manicured nails did nothing to slow down her texting speed.

-Going to Gram’s to meet with social worker to discuss next steps in her recovery - aka - is it time for assisted living? Yes, I’ll be there at 8. Have dinner hot and waiting? You’re the best you know. Trying new duet? -

Bree walked through the door, her arms laden with garment bags, sketch book, and what looked like take-out sushi. Her broad smile was contagious.

“You would not BELIEVE that new designer, Zoe! Her designs are smokin’ hot. I brought a few samples with me and she loaned me some sketches. This article spotlight is going to share her mad skillz with the D”

Hope’s phone buzzed again. - Of course dinner. Give my love to Gram. Yes, duet. Yes, I’m the best - She smiled. Paul was always there for her.

“Is that sushi? I’m starving.”

Bree put the boxes down on the desk and opened up the fragrant rolls and wasabi.

“Sakana’s on Woodward, your favorite” She said this with a sparkle in her eyes that Hope took as a challenge.

“Ok, what are you up to girl?” Hope’s own aquamarine eyes took in the mischievious look on the face of her dearest friend.

Bree picked up the garment bag and pulled out a short dress with a silver sequined bodice and glitter mesh skirt.

“Zoe wants to know if you’ll add your flair to this dress and wear it to a gig” she hopped up and down like an excited six-year-old.

“It IS pretty. I’m sure I could find some great accessories to make it more ‘me’. I haven’t seen those fabrics used together before - it’s a nice silhouette too. Definitely” Hope answered while opening up the small box of culinary delight.

Bree did a little hop and let out a “squee”. “Now just one more little, bitty favor……?”

Hope nodded while chewing her California roll.

“A picture of you wearing it for my article? Pretty please????”

*************************** Joe ****************************

“I will personally look into it Mr. Jamison. There is no way that your children will be allowed to have unsupervised visitation as long as their mother is still involved with that man. No, I’m asking you to trust me here. I only want what’s best for you and your children. That’s right. Yes. You too. Absolutely”

Joe Ronschaum was momentarily distracted from his call when he saw his e-mail reminder pop up reminding him that the new “Daily Hope” blog post was published. He clicked the link and watched as the page loaded into the browser.

“You too Mr. Jamison. I absolutely agree. I will get right on that. Of course. No worries. I’ll talk to you in the morning. Uh huh. Buh-bye”

He took a slow sip from his 4th coffee of the day and slid down into his old leather chair to read what Hope had to say today.

“ Happy Monday fellow Detroiters! Can you believe we are only two weeks away from Halloween? The holiday season will be upon us faster than you can pull up the Obamacare website! Oops…..did I say that? Just pretend like you didn’t see it, ok? A lil’ somethin’ between you and me *wink*

So I was out for my daily trudge this morning and it came to mind that all the leaves are going to be off the trees soon enough. There is nothing I like better than autumnal trees in Michigan! That is why I am calling for submissions. I want your BEST tree photos. I want colors! Shapes! Contrast! Sun and clouds, rain and snow - I want every angle you can think of. And I want them all by next Monday!!! A very esteemed group of my colleagues (aka the slackers at the water cooler) will choose the top three photos. I will then publish the top three and call for a vote of your favorite, here on my blog. The winner of the photo contest will get a new Nikon 46mz8!!!

As if that wasn’t enough to get the blood rushing back to your head, Nevermore will be playing at Cliff Bell’s this Friday night, 9-midnight! So come on out and show your favorite blogger a little support!

Sorry for the short post today my lovelies, but here is your Daily Hope: “Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.”

― Marc Riboud”

Joe shut his computer and let out a sigh. He’d been reading Hope’s blog posts and articles in the D-Daily for the past 8 months. He knew he’d developed a little crush on her. In fact, he had jumped at the chance to meet with her grandmother today, in hopes that she might be at the initial interview. He made sure to wear his best jacket, put on cologne, and even bought new shoes. He had read an article earlier in the year about sizing someone up by their footwear!

Now he just had to hope that she would show up --- and that she would find herself crushing a little on him too.