The Hudson

She hugged her arms to her sides inside of her jacket. The wind off the Hudson snaked between the buildings and formed a point of frigid air which whistled across her ears. By one block, her cheeks were flushed and her nose numb. By two, it didn’t matter if it got any colder as everything exposed to the wind followed the example of the nose.

The day had been productive with all the tasks on her list done, even the dailies that often got neglected. She was done and was trying to
get to the train as quickly as she could to get underground and evade the wind. Suddenly, a couple in front of her slowed and stopped, taking up a non-proportional section of the walkway, causing her pace to falter. Taking sidestep to get around them, she looked up for a moment, the wind cutting against her face, and saw her reflection in the shop window. A smile, long misplaced gleamed back at her, almost unfamiliar, like a stranger who resembled someone she once knew. She looked back down quickly, moving past the couple and picking up the pace to the correct one.

Her friends had been picking on her lately, pointing out a smile they hadn’t seen in a while, or at all if they hadn’t known her long. She brushed those comments always like schmutz off her sleeve, and went back to deadpan as best she could, but the comments made her wonder, and wonder what had been missing for so long.

She walked another block towards the station and pulled her hand out of her pocket and touched her cheek. She told herself it was to warm it, but as her fingers brushed the plumpness under her eyes, she didn’t need a reflection to know the smile was still there and that it was becoming more familiar every day.