‘My Heart Skipped a Beat When I Saw Her Across the Tracks’

Their City

Dear Diary:

I was standing on the platform at the Union Square station. My heart skipped a beat when I saw her across the tracks: my ex-girlfriend from college. We had broken up bitterly several years earlier because I wanted to move to New York City.

I shouted across the tracks to get her attention.

“Who are you?” she replied.

I shouted out my name, and she stared back at me quietly.

“What are you doing in my city?” I asked.

“It is my city too!” she yelled.

Trains passed between us, and we never saw each other again.

— Michael Arcati

Walking Across Town

Dear Diary:

I knew it was going to be a tough week. To settle my nerves before arriving at my desk, my book and my never-ending writing date with my dissertation, I decided to walk across town from home and then up to Columbia that Monday morning.