A Bird's Eye View

 It was amazing how different the world appeared from the top of the complex.  Cheryl and her siblings weren’t allowed to go downstairs once it started getting dark.  That was usually the time things jumped off in the neighborhood, and her parents were determined to keep their family as safe as feasibly possible.  The strange thing was, the project was located just a couple of blocks from one of the most upscale neighborhoods in the city, Diamond Row. 

The residents of Diamond Row had been lobbying the mayor for the last few years to have the housing project removed, as they weren’t thrilled about having to share their prime real estate with the city’s underprivileged population.  Regardless of how her upper class neighbors felt, Cheryl’s favorite past-time was looking down from her perch at the project at their comings and goings.  From her bird’s eye view, Cheryl could see the luxury cars stream up and down the boulevard.  Porches, BMWs, and Mercedes Benzes were the standard mode of transportation to the restaurants and designer shops that lined the boulevard.  Luxury condominiums and magnificent homes sat on the far end.   Cheryl would imagine herself living in one of the mansions and driving a metallic blue Porsche in the future.  She had already picked out the make and color.  For a twelve-year-old, she had a vivid imagination.  But actually, her selection of that particular car wasn’t just based on imagination alone. 

Her obsession with the car started after Pearl decided to make a detour on the way home from school one day and take a brief excursion to Diamond Row.  Of course, if she was going, Tischa and Cheryl had to tag along too.  She couldn’t take the risk of them getting home from school before she did and her parents finding out.   Pearl loved roaming up and down the shops that lined the row and imagining she really belonged there.  As Pearl was peering into the window of her favorite boutique, Cheryl remembered being distracted by the slam of a car door.  She turned around and saw a beautiful young woman checking the car door to make sure it was locked. As the young woman started to walk away from the car, she glanced back at the car with a somewhat proud look and headed toward the boutique door.  Standing at the door was a tall young man, looking at her the way she looked at the car.  Cheryl stared at the shiny car parked in front of the boutique.  She remembered hearing Pearl announce the shiny blue car was a Porsche.  It didn’t quite register to Cheryl the significance of the model of the car, but in her mind she associated it with the young glamorous couple, and imagined that one day, she would be in the same situation as the young woman the car belonged to.

She didn’t know how she was going to afford it, but one thing was certain, she wouldn’t be a resident of the George Marshall Housing project when she grew up.  She just knew one day, she’d meet the perfect man, not too different from the young man who stood waiting lovingly for the young woman who drove the shiny blue car.  He would look at her in the same way the young man looked at that young woman, with pride and admiration, and they would live happily together in their beautiful mansion on Diamond Row….