Chasing Waterfalls by Jennifer Anthony

Kyoko had always been fiercely passionate about her Brooklyn home, and the recent Olafur Eliasson waterfall installation at the Brooklyn Bridge anchorage had only intensified that love.

She had managed to talk her four best friends into skipping work on a Wednesday and see, as she put it, “the best waterfall of the four.”

But Roxie had done her research, and when Kyoko called her to insist they meet up at Main Street and Plymouth, she had a wealth of information at her fingertips and was positioned to argue.

“I vote for the site at Furman and Old Fulton Street,” she countered. “So we can see all four waterfalls at once– and go to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.”

“Okay,” Kyoko conceded. “But let’s suffer through the long lines to get the ice cream first. That way, you guys won’t be impatient and distracted at the exhibit.”

Roxie chuckled. Although fairly patronizing, Kyoko had a point. She knew Allison and Noelle weren’t overly excited about seeing the installation.

But when they arrived at Pier 1, still licking at their ice cream cones, four of the women gasped and Kyoko tittered in delight, even though this was her second visit.

Kyoko lapped at her scoop of butter pecan like a kitten, pointed to the Brooklyn Bridge, and said, “Oh my god! It’s even beautiful during the day! Isn’t it the best?”

“They’re all beautiful,” Graciela said. She took a chomp of her strawberry ice cream and added, “Look at the one at Governor’s Island. Es lindíssimo!”

“Hmph,” Kyoko said. She shrugged off Graciela’s comment as if she had built the Brooklyn Bridge installation herself. “That one’s okay. Kind of reminds me of a disembodied roller coaster. Or if you look at it from the side, a ponytail of ultra-fine hair. The Brooklyn Bridge is squat. And powerful.”

Noelle pulled away from her vanilla cone and shook her head. “Oh, Kyoko. Ever the Brooklynite. What about the one over there at the Brooklyn Piers? That’s also your hood.”

“Oh, it’s beautiful, too,” Kyoko said, with a laugh.

Allison was fanning herself with a wrinkled napkin, her lips pulled down in a mask of misery. “My lord, it’s hot. We should’ve come at night. And why is it that you’ve never seen the waterfall during the daytime, Kyoko?”

“Okay, I have a confession. The Brooklyn Bridge waterfall is my favorite because last week, I had the hottest date imaginable overlooking it.” Kyoko cut her eyes at Roxie, and added,  “From the Main Street vantage point.”

“Oh – were you with Lily, the woman from the cheese shop?” Allison asked.

“Wait,” Roxie said. “Last week you told me it was over with Lily, and that all you wanted to do was get back together with Felicity.”

“Huh,” Noelle said. “That’s what I heard, too. Something about how Mr. Flipper might end up bringing you guys back together…?”

“I know, I know,” Kyoko said. “But I can’t get a clear message from Felicity. And then I went to this eye-gazing party in SoHo, and before I knew it, I was being asked out by this woman Nerissa, a bartender who lives in my apartment complex.”

“Oh, double drama,” Roxie said. “Never date someone who lives in your same place. And never date a bartender!”

“But she’s also a performance artist,” Kyoko said. “And it was just the one date – ”

Roxie snickered. “You guys remember that TLC song about chasing waterfalls?”

Much to Kyoko’s chagrin, her friends burst out singing.

“Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to – ”

Kyoko sighed and turned away from the waterfalls that were inspiring her friends in all the wrong ways. “Okay, I get the point. How ‘bout we go get a drink and lunch somewhere.”

Allison dabbed at her damp temples with the rumpled napkin. “Oh, now that would be fabulous.”

“How about the River Café?” Roxie asked. “They have a great view of the waterfalls –”

Four of the five women burst into song again: “Don’t go chasing waterfalls – ”

“Enough!” Kyoko said, laughing. “Just don’t make me sit facing the window.”

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Posted by Mirela Gluck at 10:18 PM
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