Hi everyone.
I recently developed an outline for a story which is inspired by the Amiga. I finally got around to writing some of it to see how it would feel as prose. Here is some of it and I'd like to know from the community if this is something y'all would continue reading.
Agami
It was the middle of the ‘80s and consumerism was in full swing. Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” was topping the charts, movies started making insane amounts of money, flairs were out, shoulder pads were in, and almost nothing seemed impossible. If you wanted to make your mark you had to be in the right place at the right time, and this is where we find our three girls who moved to New York to see if they had what it took to make it in “the city that never sleeps”.
Paula was in the shower, singing away and oblivious to how long she was taking. The rest of the apartment however, was not dancing to the same tune as Agnus banged on the bathroom door and doing her best to be herd but not resort to yelling because she knew how much that upset Denise when she is trying to find her artistic motivation. All in all a typical morning in this fifth-floor lower east side apartment in the Lorraine building.
The girls moved to Manhattan six months ago from Santa Clara CA where they had all grown up together. After graduating from their respective colleges they all had the idea that New York was the best place for them. Agnus, a Stanford business major, wanted to achieve high-rise corporate success with either an advertising or a financial firm. Denise, a UCLA fine arts major, felt that only in a multicultural metropolis could she find an audience for her artistic sensibilities, and Paula, a free spirited Yale music major, was looking to sing or perhaps even dance her way into show business, Broadway here she comes.
But things weren't going as smooth as some of the movies made it look, and on this morning of all mornings Paula’s long musical shower session was eating into Agnus’ prep time. The interview of her life was just an hour away; If Paula got out now, Agnus could get ready and with a quick subway ride make it to Maddison Ave in time. ‘That’s it!’ she thought. “Paula!” she screamed as she banged on the door. The singing stopped and the sound of rushing water stopped with a squeak of the taps. “Pleeeaaase Paula, I have to get ready for my interview”, pleaded Agnus as she leaned her forehead against the bathroom door. Moments later the door jerked open with a towel dressed Paula emerging and humming a tune while cleaning her ear with a Q-tip. A temporarily off-balanced Agnus watched her in silent disbelief as Paula ambled by and as she completed her turn she was faced with a scowling Denise. “Sorry sweetie, I’ll make it up to you later, I promise” Agnus apologised as she turned back and disappeared behind the closing door of the bathroom.
Shortly after, as Agnus exited her apartment she ran into her neighbour Todd from across the hall. Todd asked if Denise was still in as she had promised to help Todd with some illustrations for a book he is writing. “I’d go in there with some camomile” Agnus said as she continued past Todd, “I may have raised her blood pressure a few points”. As Agnus descended the stairs she thought about Steven, Todd's roommate. Steven is a lot more Agnus’ type, more organised and is better at multitasking. Todd reads a lot and wants to be a writer, but seems to spend a lot of time playing video games. Paula nicknamed them Odd and Even.
Agnus took the stairs as she tends to do when she’s in a rush. Her view is that motion is better than standing still, despite the probability that if she waited for the elevator the overall trip down would be shorter. She emerged out of the stairwell and made a bee-line for the front door. In all the echoing noise of the stairwell behind her she didn’t hear the ‘ding’ of the elevator and as a figure emerged from the open doors Agnus ploughed into it with a force that sent them both falling to the floor. Full of apologies and a bit of a ‘why don’t you watch where you’re going’ attitude Agnus rose from the mess and helped the other person up. “I’d love to stay and make sure you’re OK but you appear sturdier than me and I really need to be somewhere else right now” said Agnus as she hurried toward the entrance whilst adjusting her clothing. She really did need to be somewhere else and now she also needed to avoid further embarrassment. “Mademoiselle!” said the accented voice behind Agnus. She stopped then spun, both as a reflex and because of the tone and timbre of the stranger’s voice. “You forgot your ‘and bag” he continued. A fresh coat of blush coloured Agnus' face as she walked back to the stranger. “Oh, I’m, ah, thank you monsieur” she said as she accepted the bag “I, ah, I really do need to get going” she affirmed, turned around and made for the door. 'Monsieur?!' she thought to herself. Agnus was typically harsh on herself after such an obvious faux pas. ‘One summer in Paris does not a French speaker make, Agnus’ she chastised herself whilst walking to the subway station on this cold early spring morning. As she went to cross the street she glanced back to see the man she had bumped into emerge from the Lorraine building and hail a cab. Now that she had regained her composure she actually recognised the man. He moved in recently into old Mrs Kosminsky’s apartment up on the ninth floor.