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New York's Opera Society chapter 7
Chapter 7
Giving Gosia Her ticket to “Halka”
It took a 20 block walk to get me over to Pani Beata’s where I found Gosia doing more or less the same thing I had seen her do the previous day, which was running from table to table in her short dress.
Again I took a seat at the counter as I had done the preceding day and started to follow Gosia with my eyes. As I was waiting for Gosia to come over to me so I could give her, her ticket, another waitress, whose name I would later discover to be Anna approached me, wearing a short dress though not as short as Gosia's and said "wait I get Gosia for you". This other waitress was a strawberry blonde whose facial features were close to if not perfect, went over to Gosia who was walking across the restaurant and said something to her in Polish which prompted Gosia to look over in my direction with a smile on her face, as she strolled into the kitchen.
I remember a certain feeling of anticipation going through me as well as my fingers which were fumbling to remove Gosia’s ticket from my wallet before she could see me doing it. I wanted so much for the ticket to be the first thing Gosia saw as she set eyes on me that I must have portrayed a kid rushing to get his birthday presents open. My fretfulness was based upon a perhaps childish yearning to see the look on her face that would clarify her reasons for wanting so much to witness the performance of this particular opera.
It is hard for me to say what impressions were triggered in her mind by the sight of me holding up the face of her ticket but I could tell by the manner in which she was stopped in her tracks as she was approaching me that she was indeed content with what she had been given and was now looking over.
At that point as I saw her with eyes protected in the knowledge that her reaction to my ticket had yielded me a favorable reply and as I saw her standing about a foot or two away from me apparently not knowing what to say, it was my words “I hope you are happy with your ticket” which brought her out of a certain perplexed daze which her ticket had cast her into, almost as if she really had not expected me to get the tickets. She must have forgotten our deal of the previous day for she even offered to re-inverse me for the cost of the ticket, inducing me to tell her not to worry about the money that it would be my treat. What followed perhaps was gratitude overflowing into warmth or a sign of attraction given a chance to manifest itself with the pretext of saying thanks, she planted a small kiss on my mouth and said "dziękuje that is thank you in Polish language". I must acknowledge to have been as surprised as I was turned on by her impulsive display which led me on to hope for more and deeper intimacy.
Doubt will always slither into ones thoughts when the subject of the future is turned in the mind and if Gosia and I had something to look forward to apart from seeing an opera accompanied by several hundred chaperons in a large auditorium this was not the place to discover it. Gosia must have realized the same as I could tell that she wanted to get back to her other customers and escape the shyness that had taken over her after her sudden reaction.
That day had been very busy considering it had been my first after a long break, so naturally weariness was due to set in as it did at that point after having concluded the business I had come to take care of, making it time to plan my trip home but not without having at least one beer and taking a moment to unwind before facing my first homework of the school year.
“Gosia I can see you have to get back to work so I don’t want to keep you here any longer then need be but can I get a Heineken beer “ were the words I said with a touch of jovial formality that brought us back to the roles we had started from which were that of waitress customer.
Just as I had finished telling Gosia what I wanted I saw Pani Beata sitting at another table wearing a red blouse with a pair of white pants, talking to a man I thought might have been her husband. When Gosia saw Pani Beata looking over at us, she in a rushed tone of voice said "excuse me I will get your order". Upon seeing Gosia run off into the kitchen, Pani Beata got up out of her seat and came over to where I was seated and asked more as if she were telling me she knew that is how it would turn out "are you take Gosia to Polish opera?", “yes, we are going” was my answer which only confirmed what she suspected. She then followed up by saying “I only come to say you, I go too with my friend who is sit over there, maybe we see each other at opera?". “I hoe so Pani Beata” were my words that sent her away with that triumphant look that comes to those who have just had things go the way they figured.
After a minute or 2 had gone by, I saw Gosia come back with my bottle of beer and a glass on a tray. She then placed the glass on the counter in front of me and tried to pour it without making that foam which beer tends to make, I could see by the way she was doing this and the amount of foam that was being made that she was far from being what one might call a professional bartender or as the English would put it a barman or as in her case a barmaid. She had poured half the bottle when I laughingly took the bottle from her hand and said "my dear, let me show you how the professionals do it" and I poured the rest of the beer without making a single drop of foam. It was again that she got that childlike look of wonder in her eyes which I had grown to like so much and in an almost laughing manner said "next time I do it like that" as she turned toward the kitchen leaving me to gaze at the way her legs moved as she walked away.
After seeing Gosia take her leave into the kitchen, I started drinking my beer and pondering my first day at school and how it had gone. There is something ever so relaxing and comforting about sitting in a bar enjoying a drink or a beer after a hard day of studying or laboring. I don’t really know why it was that I always enjoyed having a beer or cognac under these circumstances, perhaps it came from a feeling of having through my deeds earned the right to just sit down savoring that drink whatever it maybe. In my contemplations I tried to think of weather or not this school day which had gone by so well was going to be any kind of indication of how the rest of the year would unfold. It had really felt fulfilling to be back in school, where l belonged. Suddenly as my mind was drifting to thoughts of how my musical education and ambitions had been restarted, I saw Gosia return with a large tray that she carried on one arm as she made her way through the place. Viewing the way Gosia swayed her hips in that dress of hers, as she strutted her way to and fro, made me think of the main character from the opera “Carmen” and how that gypsy girl must have been intended to move while singing Habanera.
As much I wanted to prolong this blissful moment of serenity given to me by my surroundings, I knew what awaited me at home was not only homework but my moms dinner. Time was not in abundance so with some lament I gulped the rest of my beer as I directed my voice at Anna who happened to be walking past me "do you think you could get me the bill?, I am in a hurry". To which she replied in a shy tone of voice as she turned looking away into her book of orders," sure let me get Gosia?". Gosia then came to me and said in a tone of voice that showed gratitude "let me pay for the beer because you paid for the ticket ,o.k."?, "O.k. but here is your tip, oh and by the way I will reply to your email when I get home, see you later, bye" were my last words to Gosia as I put two dollars on the counter. Gosia just said bye with a smile, as she picked up her tip which she put in her pocket while walking into the kitchen.
On my way home it was Gosia and only Gosia who engaged me. I could not get her out of my thoughts, I even started seeing pictures of what it would be like to perform the ultimate act of carnality. This is something that everybody does, at least those who are in love or in lust, they envision how it would be to not only kiss the person whose attraction meets their own but to remove from each other every item of clothes from outerwear to the most intimate inner garments. I could see myself in the family room, after just having returned from the opera, kissing Gosia's lips. In the fantasized world that was being created in my brain, she was wearing a long black dress with stockings and no other attire to protect her feminine intimacy from my masculine incursion. I, in the stage of my imagination was directing every small detail from its start to its culmination which would be an intrusion by that part of my body that was being awoken beyond modesty at the thought of all that was going on in this scenario of my illusion.
