Maisie's mishaps and misadventures.

Maisie took the stairs carefully up to her first floor apartment. The first place of her own she had ever had. Even though the light flickered on the landing and the walls were stained with, well she had no idea what, she was beyond excited. She had up till now lived with her parents in a nice but very conservative upstate village. It had taken a lot of convincing to get them to let her go on her own to New York, but getting the respectable job at the library with Miss Hardacre had gone a long way towards that.

Now though she was free! She was 18 and had got a job as assistant librarian straight from school. She beamed thinking of how she aced the interview with her views on strict adherence to filing systems, and now here she was in New York, in well, the only apartment she could afford even if it was a bit dingy.

Still, the apartment was just a couple of stops away from the library and it was all so new and different. This was going to be fabulous she thought, turning the key and pushing the door open into a bare room with a bedframe and a stripped stained mattress. One bulb with no shade hung over it. She paused for a moment but decided she knew it was going to need some work when she signed for it and was about to proceed when the door opened across the landing from hers and one of her neighbours stepped out.

Maisie's eyes bulged as she took in the stranger. She seemed to be wearing tight fitting satin underwear with fishnet stockings ending in extremely high heeled shoes. Her lips were deep crimson and her hair a lustrous black. Maisie knew her parents would have been scandalized, but her neighbour looked so, well, absolutely glamorous!

If Maisie was startled at seeing her neighbour, the reverse was also true. The woman in lingerie looked her up and down at her tight fitting formal skirt suit and glasses. "What the hell have you come as?" she said suspiciously. "You the IRS?"

"No..." spluttered Maisie, not really sure what the IRS was.

the neighbour started ringing out a series of acronyms. "DEA? FBI? … Cops?"

"No", repeated Maisie, flushing slightly, not really sure what the woman was talking about. "I'm a librarian. Well an assistant. I'm new here".

"Ya dont say!" said the neighbour, looking her up and down once more with a shake of the head.

Maisie looked at herself again. Did she look so ridiculous? She was still in her formal skirt-suit, and she had ironed her starched white blouse herself. She knew her chest was quite large, but she tried to keep that hidden as best she could and she thought she made a reasonable job at being discrete.

The woman paused for a couple of moments then appearing to make up her mind stuck her hand out with a smile. “Candy!”

"I'm Maisie, its so nice to meet you. Its my first time here in New York. I don't know anyone else. I hope we'll be friends!" said Maisie, clasping it with both hands and pumping Candy's hand up and down.

"Suuure." said Candy slowly. "Look, we can, you know, chat later. I gotta go to work!"

"Ok. You work nights?” said Maisie, surprized, “What do you do?"

Candy looked her up and down once more, then said, "I'm a City court fucking judge of course!” then looked witheringly down at her street attire.

"Oh yes. Wow! How exciting. You must be very clever". Maisie was impressed. they had courts running at nights in New York! And by such glamorous women. Maisie was awestruck by her sophisticated new neighbour.

"Yeah yeah. Anyway. See you later Macy".

"Its Maisie, she corrected as politely as she could, but Candy was already disappearing down the stairwell.

Maisie pushed into her little apartment and dumped her suitcase neatly onto the middle of the bare stained mattress, then looked out of her one window onto the Neon lit street below. She felt a little warm, so decided to try to let some air in and pulled at the sash window. It didn't budge. A moment later, she had braced herself and with two hands yanked it firmly upwards. With an appalling screech it went halfway up, letting in glorious cool air and the sounds and smells of a New York evening. Maisie basked in it. She was used to the crickets in the evening and not much else. This was paradise. It was all so exciting.

Down below, she saw her new friend emerging onto the street, and expected her to make her way to the subway, but Candy just stood at the kerb and watched the traffic, appearing to catch the drivers eyes, pouting and pushing her bust forwards. Maisie was bewildered.

She leaned out to call down to her but just as she was halfway out, two things happened. A car slowed to a stop and her friend got in after a brief exchange. More calamitously though, the sash window gave a creak and the thin coat of paint which was holding it up gave way and the heavy window slammed down on her lower back, causing her to gasp loudly.

Maisie tried to twist but could only just see her own reflection on the window. She kicked her feet pointlessly behind her, but got no purchase. Thankfully, she hadn't hurt herself, but she was stuck!

Maisie's torso from her belly button upwards projected out of her apartment twenty feet above the street. Everything from her skirt waistband below was trapped in her new apartment by the heavy sash window.

Oh my Gosh! thought Maisie – what am I going to do!

She was plucking up the courage to try to shout over the din of the city below when a sound crept through the window behind her. It sounded like someone had come into her apartment. Maisie tried to remember whether she had locked the door, then recalled clearly not doing so.

Thank goodness. Surely someone will help me, she thought.