Making time apart

I was supposed to see la Turca on Saturday night. I had spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon with her until it was time for me to go to work. It was her idea to save me a trip to the Bronx. She argued we could enjoy some more time together if the uniform issue was solved. I resisted her idea initially but finally succumbed to the logic of it: why waste such a gorgeous day underground only to come back down when I was already in the city. We’re both all about sense making which in turn saves time and energy that can be used in a different light. We walked through her neighborhood to a nearby restaurant and had ourselves brunch. Then we walked through the streets until we found a fair down the road. The streets were packed with vendors exhibiting their merchandise. I met a compatriot on the seller side, and briefly exchanged phrases as Edna checked out some of the wood artifacts on sale. I bought a pair of shades with the cash I had left. I will put them on now as I finish writing this sentence. The other item I bought was a choker composed of tiny metal pieces with finely ductile inscriptions that was
slotted in and aligned through an elastic band. It didn’t survive the night. But it felt good (the empowering kind of good) to chase down a Washington Mutual to avoid the usual fee charged by the regular ATM’s. Edna fought to get the information over the cell-phone after a failed attempt to find it based solely on intuition: she insisted there was a branch close by going just a little farther down Broadway. She got the info she wanted only to decide that the one closest to us was still far out and then settling for the ATM fee in a Commerce bank because it was still cheaper than the ATM’s installed on delis and stores. She bought me the choker. That was thoughtful of her. We had a hard time finding the vendor that sold the item that had called my curiosity even though we had taken measures to make our way back unmistakably to that exacting tent once the money issue was solved. The night before we had gone to Kana. I had found myself in a state of lassitude there and then. The availability of the opposite gender was overwhelming and here I was stuck with her! How selfish of me. But we have agreed that being selfish could be quite healthy. She went as far as suggesting that I get an hour for myself to do whatever I wanted but then backed down from her offer. That was Saturday and I thought I owed it to myself and to her too making time apart to revitalize our next encounter (which will be later on today Sunday). Yet we had already made plans.
I bailed out.
I told her I felt tired and needed rest. In my mind, I wanted to revisit Calico Cantina Bar across the street from where I work. Instead, at the last minute, I bought a cologne (Calvin Klein’s Obsession) and deodorant. The cologne was to be left with Jorge Garcia and the deodorant was lost as a testament to my forgetful nature. I had said I will remember to pick it up from a place I left secretly hidden on my way home. I was to be picked up from the floor at the end of that infamous and surreal night.