Taking a visit to the Grand Central Terminal, I’d known few things about it except for the fact that it was one of the biggest train stations in New York City. Stepping inside, for the second time in my life, it became clear to me why the place drew thousands of people every day. One of the most notable places that I’d encountered was the golden clock centered on the first floor of the GCT. Shockingly I didn’t notice it at first, but once the monotone voice of the tour guide on the audio tape mentioned the clock, it was difficult not to observe more closely what the rest of New York has coined “New York’s most famous clock.”
Looking at the clock from the staircase neighboring the open seating bars, I could imagine the setting of the clock used for a crime or mystery film, where the presence of such a large number of people would be the perfect environment for masking a kidnapping or other offense. The music that would accompany this scene would probably be a quiet piano piece that would serve as a foundation for the tense and startling mood of the film. On another note, the Grand Central Station is probably the perfect setting for a Christmas or other holiday film. Being that it’s an extremely popular tourist location, as well as a generally populous area mainly comprising of people getting to and from work, the Grand Central Station would be an appropriate setting for a scene in a film about a relative trying to get to a holiday dinner, of course with a happy ending that involves the whole family spending quality time with one another.
Story
Ken was your typical New Yorker. A Harvard law school graduate, he was actively looking for a job at a successful law firm to justify the three hundred thousand dollars he had gone into debt, to build a career for himself. At 24, he was single, and had dedicated every waking moment of his life to his studies, and an office internship he was able to score through one of his mother’s co-workers that he couldn’t wait to quit.
Tired and bored out of his mind on a snowy December night, Ken was getting ready to clock out of the office when he noticed a small envelope in his cubicle signed with his name. Grabbing the envelope with one hand, and sloppily clocking out with the other, Ken rushed out of the office, running to make the next 6 train.
Finally taking a seat on the train hoping to catch some shut-eye, Ken found himself immersed in thoughts he’d accrued throughout the day; the most recent being that fact that all the men in his family were married by age 26, and it seemed as though he would be the first to break the family trend. Ken had been single since he was 20, and though he wasn’t opposed to the idea of marriage, or at least even dating someone, he found it difficult to talk to girls given that he worked six days a week, and hated his uneventful work life.
Arriving at Union Square, Ken had realized that the letter he rushedly snatched from his desk was still sitting in the left pocket of his briefcase, unopened. Tearing open the letter, Ken broke into a nervous sweat when he read the words “For Ken, Open Before Lunch.” Reading the letter from his boss, he stood up in panic after realizing he had to be at Grand Central Terminal in 10 minutes, and his train was headed the other direction!
After having transferred to an uptown train, Ken sighed in relief. With only eight minutes until the meeting, he figured he’d blame train traffic, being that this was his first time being tardy in two years. Finally arriving at 42nd Street, Ken ran out of the station and hopped into an empty taxi, exclaiming to the driver he was in a hurry. Looking out the snowflake distorted windshield, Ken decided to tune out his anxiety and solely focus on the meeting. Handing the taxi driver a fifty dollar bill, Ken bolted out of the car and ran towards the GCT, slowing down towards the entrance, trying to keep his composure.
Entering Grand Central Station, Ken became aware of his next challenge: finding his boss. Looking for probably the most important detail of the night, Ken opened the letter looking for the location, only to find the invitation contained no such thing. By this point in the evening, Ken had realized he was already in excess of fifteen minutes late to the meeting with his boss. Trying to concentrate on taking breaths, he looked at what was probably the most visually appealing item he’d seen during the night. He jogged down the staircase to catch a closer look at the golden clock, walking directly up to the information booth.
With neither his boss in sight nor any of his co-workers, Ken safely let loose any concern about the meeting. He walked up to the clock to snap a picture on his smartphone as it hit 9 o’clock. Pressing capture, Ken’s anxious feelings renewed as he received a message from his boss, this time stating that the meeting was moved to the following week. Ken couldn’t help but let out a hopeful grin. Christmas was around the corner, and he was ready to relax this one night. To his surprise, a light tap on the shoulder revealed Stephanie, a co-worker from the same shift. Following some small talk, Ken decided to take his chances, and invite Stephanie for coffee the following morning. Standing in front of the golden clock, Ken felt the world come down on his face as Stephanie’s face came closer, locking lips with the co-worker she had been giving stares to for the last week. In the midst of the exchange, a foreign sense of confidence had suffused throughout Ken’s body, as he held her by the hand and took her to the Whispering Gallery. After a candid conversation from a distance, Ken revealed to Stephanie his intent to quit his job the next morning. He’d expressed how much he loathed the boring and uneventful process of his office job, and that he hoped to find a job more consistent with what he was actually interested in: practicing law. The realization that unless they both quit their jobs the following day, they would probably never see each other again, was mutual, and they both left the GCT devastated that their lives had taken this turn.
(P.S. My phone camera wasn’t working so, this is a photo I took from GCT earlier this year)
Ronald Osherov
