Mary Anne Rose - Chapter 6: Finishing Mocha
6. Finishing Mocha
Mary Anne’s divorce was finalized four months ago. Funny thing was that she felt like a proud U.S. permanent resident now. She essentially came here as an illegal immigrant; she found a way to stay in the country nonetheless. But she didn’t steal or cheat for the most part; she worked and made her living honestly for the most part. She also experienced one divorce now just like many other fellow U.S. permanent residents. She felt that she belonged here.
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Soon after the divorce, she decided to get a very different job from ones she had in the past. She had jobs like waiting for tables, making drinks as a bartender and selling cheap t-shirts and jeans at clothes stores. She decided to become a Ballroom Dance instructor this time. Getting this job was not very difficult; most Ballroom Dance studios gladly took beginners. Being under thirty and good looking definitely helped; they preferred young employees pleasing to the eye because that really helped the business. They just paid the minimum wage to new employees and gave training videos to them. Those who were skilled at dancing picked up Ballroom Dance fairly quickly and they generally grew to become competent instructors; those who could not become good at it quickly enough were more or less forced to leave. She was good at dancing before she came to New York; she was pretty athletic, too. After she came here, she took two dance classes a week on average to keep in shape; she took dance classes like Jazz, Modern and Hip hop. When she decided to start this job, she had sound foundation already. Her training program ended in two months; she kept practicing diligently and she got quite good at what she did given that she only spent four months so far. At the beginning, she was only making the minimum wage, but the pay structure was that she got commissions as she gave private dance lessons to students. Though she could improve her dancing skills still, she used her charm to get three students to take her private lessons from her. A lawyer, a chiropractor and an engineer turned engineering consultant. Each of them only took a couple of lessons a week from her, so she was still not making a lot of money, but she could see that she would be doing quite well financially a year from now. She would definitely be so much better at what she did, too; she would probably get a couple of more students and she would also teach more private dance lessons to her current students. They were all unattractive middle age men, but they all made good money; they could pay a lot more if they wanted to. She was still very attractive physically; she could continue using her charm for some years.
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Mary Anne held the cup with her left hand and finished the remaining Mocha. She came to ‘JO’ just to take a little break today, but she felt more than just refreshed; her mind was so clear today. As she recalled what happened seven years ago and briefly recalled what had happened since then, she suddenly started feeling alive and wonderful. Not that she was unhappy before, but she felt that she had became a person who wasn’t full of cynicism; the idea of hope and dream was a part of her now. She also felt that there was something wonderful about meeting people, touching and feeling them; people were not there for her to just feel lust, to hassle or to get from one point to another. The guy that she met seven years ago was not saintly or holy, but having met him, she began to believe that there were wonderful things, places and people in this world. She did not think about life like that before she met him, but she believed that now. Churchgoers might not like how she met him or how she spent time with him, but she was not concerned about that. As far as she was concerned, that was a human touch; that was a human communication. And that opened up a whole new world for her. Conservative schoolteachers might despise how she got where she was today, but that was none of her concern. The world had become a place that she wanted to be in, explore and feel; that was all that mattered to her. She stood up, looked around, smiled and left the coffeehouse. As she went outside, it was still bright and sunny. She looked her watch; it was almost five in the afternoon, but it was late August, so the sun would not come down anytime soon. She decided to take a walk and started walking toward Central Park.
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This was the ending of the story passed to the bartender.
