What’s New Pussycat?

My inner-ghoul wanted me to write a dark humor piece about this thing I saw on aol news, but my new-found maturity stopped me because it coincided with something really unfortunate in the headlines. Nowadays, I’m sensitive to things like that. Ah well — file it away for later.

So, supposing there was mischief waiting to burst out of me, I conjured this bit of nostalgia – I guess also, I’m needing a reason to blabber on my blog…

…I was a young lass living in a brownstone on 147^th Street off Riverside Drive, across the hall from a young man who hit on me from time to time – this guy and the one in the building across the street who called one day with a great level of astonishment in his voice — “You’re sitting in your rocking chair – you’re naked!” He accused. He could see me through the blinds slats.

Well, anyway, the guy across the hall would try tickling my fancy talking Chinese really loud on the phone – he was black, so he thought it was exotic — some kind of an aphrodisiac. We were in our lower twenties. One day on a full moon he chased me through the hall and we ran back and forth between our apartments – I was wearing clothes, by the way. I’d been hammering a nail, so when he picked me up and spun me around, the hammer flew out of my hand and hit the floor – we laughed and laughed and laughed then he chased me into my bathroom where I fell into the tub. It turned still then. He sat on the side of the tub and ran his index finger across my foot, staring me seriously in the eye. But, oh no. Though the vibe had shifted, I was able to break that mood. He’d never seen me naked and wasn’t going to. You don’t shit where you eat, mon cheri.

Oh but good times prevailed – this guy was a Leo who loved to laugh, heartily. One day I heard him through the walls while some song played on his radio. He burst through, knocked on my door – excited – “Turn on the radio!” It was some student station at the end of the dial — maybe NYU. He was nearly crying — out of breath. We listened – then I became hysterical. It was Tom Jones’ “What’s New Pussycat?” with all the “cats” taken out of it — so mostly everything ended with the word — well, you know. Oh, so you’ve heard this rendition? Well, for those who haven’t — I couldn’t find it on youtube — but here – it’s the regular one. Use your imagination: