Every morning Rhonda Evans ran 4.5 miles before she brushed her teeth. She wanted to wait until she could scrub everything at once - inside and out. She would, however, make sure to down a 16oz cup of alkaline water before she strapped on her Asics.
Her grandmother had put her on to Alkaline water. She said it would keep her clean from the inside. Big Mamma was keen on cleansing. Clean body, clean home, clean mind. Her fastidious nature had made its way into her granddaughter's daily practice whether she liked it or not.
Rhonda ran at exactly 6.4 miles per hour. She did not like to run down Tompkins because it was dirtier than Patchen. On Stuyvesant she wouldn't have to skip over the trash that piled up against the curb from the rainwater. On Stuyvesant, her stride remained more consistent, because there was less traffic, too. Incredible what a difference a few blocks could make.
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She did not run on Saturdays. She stretched. She walked. She spent between $56 and $62 by11:00am depending on the specials at the farmer's market on MacDonough. That included the $6 she spent on her blueberry, banana, kale smoothie at the new organic corner store on Ralph.
On this Saturday, however, Rhonda stopped in her tracks. Muscle spasm. Fuck. She was almost to MacDonough when her hamstring locked. She'd barely taken 2 sips of her smoothie, but she could see the surface beginning to thin in the sun. There was nothing worse than a watery smoothie. Rhonda's body rarely gave her any issue, and she'd made sure of it. She couldn't think of anything that would cause the pain in her right hamstring, but the potassium from her smoothie had not yet had the chance to soothe the lactic acid in her muscles.
Slowly, she pivoted to her left foot and lightly began to shift her weight back as she pressed her toes to the pavement and leaned back into her right heal. She took a moment, about 20 feet from the northwest corner of Ralph and MacDonough to breathe. 10:35am. Not too many people out but enough for a 30-something year-old brunette woman with wire frames to scoff slightly having to adjust her stride for Rhonda's pit-stop in the middle of the sidewalk. Brunette's ponytail swayed extra high as she side-stepped to the left. Maybe about 120 degrees, Rhonda figured. Actually not too far off from the angle her legs made as she stretched out her leg.
The pavement on this block was a little extra speckled. Some sort of composite concrete. Rhonda exhaled as she used her good leg to balance once again, bringing her knee to keep the other company and centering herself. The motion had caused a small crease in the toe of her white Reebok. She took another moment to swing her leg a bit to release any extra tension. The tension eased. 10:36am. She flexed her toes in an effort to push the leather up in the toe of her right sneaker.
An older man in a black oversized t-shirt stopped as he exited the bodega to her left. Black plastic bag hanging from his wrist. Megaball ticket in his left hand. Cigarette hanging between his lips, poised to be lit at any moment. Rhonda could hear the flakes of his skin gathering under his fingernails and he scratched at his unyielding gray beard. It was the kind of gray that didn't get lighter in the sun. Actually, Rhonda thought the man's beard looked a lot like the sidewalk. Mostly dark gray, speckled with black. "My look at them arms, young lady. Don't let the wrong man step to ya!" He pulled a bit at the hair on his chin as he let out a hoarse chuckle. The cigarette in his mouth seemed to wave at her as he spoke. He reached into the pocket of his dark-wash shorts, pulled out a gray bic and lit up. He exhaled. "You have a good day now young lady."
"You too," She released the line her lips had formed slightly, not realizing she'd been holding her breath.
With that, he was on his way. His crisp crew socks, pulled up exactly to meet the bottom of his calves seemed almost reflective against his black Air Forces as he took slow strides towards MacDonough. Rhonda watched as the smoke wafted upwards. There was barely any wind. She exhaled and stepped forward. 10:37am. A drip of condensation slid its way beneath her index finger.
