New Yorkish by Lamed Shapiro - Summary

1

A man with a grouchy look sits slumped and orders griddle cakes. The waitress who takes his order and isn't very pretty tries hard to get him to smile back and finally softens him a little. He eats his griddle cakes thoughtfully and before he leaves asks the waitress without hope when she gets off work.

2

He walks in the streets around the library, meets a woman he knows and declines accompanying her because he has a meeting soon. She is erect and he hunched but slightly cheered. He walks to the Automat. The waitress is waiting, wearing clothes that do not suit her. She has a "volatile" face that often changes expression. He asks her name – Jennie – and guesses that her family hails from Spain. She answers, hurt, that she is American-born from California. Her speech is incorrect and "New Yorkish".

3

He buys her an ice cream, and suggests that Jennie is too common a name and calls her Dolores. She asks his name and he says she won't be able to pronounce it and that she call him Manny. This breaks the ice. He buys her a rose after she sees her looking wistfully at a flower shop. In the dark with the flower pinned to her hair she looks exotically Spanish, almost.

4

In the movie theater a performer sings three songs that sound the same, including one about black slaves being lazy in the fields. And then a black man sings a song that sounds the same too. Another act goes on, a man and a woman who sing and dance and this moves Dolores to grasp his arm. "THE WORLD BEFORE YOUR EYES" begins and it's a newsreel and images after images flash on the screen. Then s comedy begins and Manny asks Dolores if she is enjoying herself and she is. The feature picture begins about a rich and a poor knight vying for a noble lady's heart. He tells Dolores she is an idiot for being swept away but she doesn't notice. He takes her hand and though they are together they are far.

5

They go eat oysters. He asks if she lives with her parents and she evades the question by talking about different people she meets at the Automat. One Russian has the same thing every day and she never has to take his order. She has a sort of silent relationship with him. Manny says it's time to go home and she is insulted that he didn't ask her to spend the night together. He is very confused and she starts to leave but he placates her.  They snuggle together on the cab ride and go into his apartment in the Bronx.

6

Manny is lying on the grass on a warm, bright day, so bright he can see through closed eyes. He finds a baby bird on the grass and cuddles it. He opens his eyes and sees darkness, then closes them and sees darkness. The bird's heart seems human… He wakes up to find Dolores sleeping next to him in darkness that becomes lighter as he adjusts. Her body is beautiful though she isn't.

He gets out of bed and leaves the room. He feels ugly seeing himself in the mirror. He gets philosophical, thinking how the sunny day of his dream felt as real as the snow outside. He thinks of pretty sounding words and of life and death. He marvels that "love that is bought" feels genuine. His thoughts are tangled as he calls her to breakfast. Her body is youthful and her face is older and he looks at her immersed in thought. They eat breakfast in silence, thinking their own thoughts. She puts on her outerwear. Manny tries to pay her and she refuses and he cajoles her to take it and buy herself a gift.

7

She finally takes the money. He kisses her fingers in a mock-knightly gesture but she is serious. She gives him a look that overwhelms him with intimacy and exits. He starts to go after her, stops and says "My God! What? What happened here?"

Lamed Shapiro. Image source