There were two places within Grand Central Station that stood out to me as places that I, personally, could develop “insider knowledge” of: the Vanderbilt hall and the Dining Concourse. The grand yet humble demeanor of the Vanderbilt hall with its quant wood benches circling the corner of a large and magnificent space, and the comfortable, laid back atmosphere of the Dining Concourse were both attributes that I feel like I could connect to, and grow attached to. Therefore, if these places were to be used in a story or movie or the like, I would attribute a personal connection to the piece, and therefore draw more out of it.
Story
There was a bit under an hour left until the train left for Fairfield. Jeremy had already been at Grand Central Station for over an hour, and his capacity for boredom was reaching its maximum.
Jeremy wasn’t native to New York City, he was born in raised in Connecticut in a nice house with loving parents and a couple of younger sisters. He had ventured out to the New York City on this frosty day as a break in his otherwise monotonous routine. He was sick of just going to school, doing homework, and hanging out with his friends occasionally. He wanted to explore, he wanted to feel a sense of adventure. That’s why he didn’t even invite any friends; he came alone.
In fact, Jeremy’s plan was quite impromptu. He had decided the night before that he wanted to do this, and his plans only went so far as to know which train he would take early in the morning. But after he arrived in Manhattan, he realized he had no idea what he was going to do. He figured Central park would be a good place to go, so he started walking there, peering into the storefronts as he went, and observing the endless amounts of people streaming through the streets. He stopped at Starbucks along the way to get a muffin and some coffee, and was appreciative of the relief that establishment afforded him from the biting cold outside.
Upon reaching Central Park, he again realized that he didn’t know what he was going to do. So he roamed around Central Park for a while, wishing it wasn’t so cold so that there’d have been more people around, and more to do. Just as he was about to leave, having found nothing to do, he stumbled across the ice rink there, Wollman Rink. So he did that for a while, thankful that he had found some kind of activity to do.
After skating for a while, he felt a bit better, a bit warmer from moving around, and a bit more productive for having found something to do. But he still had no plans for the rest of the day, and remembering that he had homework due the next day, and as it was only around lunchtime, he decided he would call it quits on his adventure to the city and go back home.
He walked back to Grand Central Station, hoping that there would be a train back soon, but upon reaching the station he saw that the next train wasn’t for two hours. He didn’t know of anything else to do in the area, and scared from going back outside without a plan because of the freezing temperature, he decided to wait out the time in the station. So here he was sitting in the pretend train car in the Dining Concourse, bored. He had finished his meal from Shake Shack a while ago, and though he had nothing to do, was grateful for the interesting architecture of the space, as well as for the constant movement of the passersby, which made the time pass slightly faster.
It was finally time to board his train. Jeremy thought his plan was a complete failure, but still resolved to come back again. He did have a condition for returning though: warmer weather.
I can really relate to Jeremy’s need for adventure. I feel that every single day. I also liked how you extended your story beyond Grand Central Station. Using Central Park and some random Starbucks made it feel like Jeremy was exploring the entire city.
Overall, great post! I thoroughly enjoyed it.