We stopped off in Times Square to see if there were Rush tickets left for tonight’s performance of The Color Purple. A couple years ago I talked up Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple to April and she read it. It is one of my favorite books (as I’ve written about before) and I thought it would be special for us to see the show together. By the time we got to the Broadway theater but the Rush tickets had gone fast.
We walked down through Times Square and tried one more time, this time for the new play, The History Boys. No luck there either.
Before April left Florida her neighbor Richard had insisted that he put her in touch with his son, Chris. He thought we could meet up for lunch or dinner or something. Via e-mails April and Chris decided that today would be perfect.
We rode the subway down to Union Square and, with some time on our hands before meeting Chris for lunch, we walked through the Square. April and I both love dogs, so we spent a little while just sitting in the Dog Park watching the dogs run and play.
After a little while we walked away from the Square and I showed April Books of Wonder, a children’s bookstore that is one of my favorite hangouts. I love the books and layout of the store – I also that they have an entire café that serves nothing but cupcakes. The two of us are always reading something and we always have favorite books to share with one another. As we were talking I realized that somehow I had never shared one of my all-time favorite books with her.
Old Turtle.
I was introduced to Old Turtle several years ago. The book was read as a sermon. For a couple of minutes we talked and shared the meaning the story had had on us and then the service was over. That evening, in its beautiful simplicity, had a profound impact on me. In less than an hour my eyes had been opened to a very amazing and real look at God.
When the book came to mind I realized that I had never shared Old Turtle with April. Books of Wonder was sold-out of Old Turtle, so the search continued. We walked around the corner to another bookstore. There were plenty of copies of the sequel, Old Turtle and the Broken Truth but not Old Turtle.
We were running short on time, so we postponed the search for Old Turtle and made our way down to 14th Street to the cool and hip running/yoga/biking/swimming store, Jack Rabbit where Chris is the store’s manager.
April, Chris and I hit it off straight away. Within minutes we were talking, swapping stories and histories. Chris has led an incredible life…he’s in the Guinness Book of World Records, he’s been in and won numerous triathlons, and next Spring his book – The Athlete’s Way will be released.
Chris’ lunch hour flew. We posed for a picture and before we knew it we were walking him back to his store. We said our goodbyes but not before making plans to pick up where with left off with another lunch on Sunday.
Visit: www.christopherbergland.com
April and I walked further downtown into the Washington Square area. We walked down the street and stopped in Purdy Girl and several other local shops before heading to the subway.
As we walked toward the subway we passed another bookstore and in there Old Turtle found us. We sat in the middle of the floor and I read aloud Old Turtle to April. I didn’t have a copy of the book, so reading it again – especially aloud – reminded me of its power. As we got up to leave, April surprised me by buying me the copy of Old Turtle. I’ve had many copies over the last few years, but I’ve always given them away. It is wonderful having my own copy and I’m glad that my copy came from April.
We made our way to the subway and headed back to my apartment in Spanish Harlem.
We both took short "disco naps" before heading out to dinner at small diner in Chelsea and then going to Splash for a couple hours of dancing. We hit the dance floor and we hit it hard.
We had a great time spinning, dancing, flirting and laughing the night away to what was a perfect soundtrack for the evening.
