Gina Granter - New Year, New York, New Life

 

 

It was 08:00 AM on New Year's Day. I was sitting on an Amtrak train in Penn Station bound for Montreal. 20 hours earlier, I had flown into New York from Montreal with a plan to spend one afternoon in New York. Vintage clothes shopping to ring in the New Year laughing at the Comedy Cellar, to stay up all night because I save on a hotel and then get on the 8 o'clock Amtrak and go to sleep for the 11-hour ride home. I had a seat for two, and I was stretching out and I was just about to fall asleep. 

 

We hadn't left the station yet, and I hear a voice say, “Is this seat next to you taken?” And I begrudgingly said “No,” because I really wanted to sleep. And the guy who was talking to me was a pretty handsome guy around my age, dark hair and a little bit of a graying beard. He had a novel in his hand. He didn't smell cigarettes, so it could be worse. But I wasn't going to fall asleep and start snoring and drooling after being awake for 20 to 30 something hours in front of this strange man. 

 

So, I started reading my book. We ride next to each other for about an hour. And then, I got up to go to the cafe car and I said, probably the most Canadian thing I've ever said in my life, I pointed out the window and I was like, “Would you like my window seat?” There's a beaver lodge out there. [audience laughter] You never know what you'll see looking out the window. [audience laughter] 

 

So, I went to the cafe car, and I got a coffee, and I read, and I came back, and I sat next to him and he asked me about beaver lodges, about which I know a lot actually. And then, I asked him what he was reading. We went from there. He was a New Yorker who was just going to Montreal for a week and he had no plans. And I was like, “Well, I'm going to a comedy show in Montreal, because I do that all the time. And so, I have a two for one pass tomorrow night. Do you want to come?” So, he's like, “Cool.” And then we talk for several hours. 

 

And then, the whole week, he's there. Every night, we see each other. I take him to a house party, take him out for smoked meat. I take him to micro brew pubs. We have a great time. The night before he left, there was a freezing rain and it froze all the sidewalks. I almost slipped and fell, and he caught my arm and he held my hand and then we kissed. I was like, “Ooh, this could be a good reason to visit New York again.” [audience laughter] 

 

So, a few weeks after that, I was still in Montreal. It was February. It was freezing cold. I had a really bad chest cold. I went to sleep at 08:00 PM. I always turn my phone off when I sleep, because I value my sleep. But that night, with the prospect of a man in New York maybe writing me a text, I thought, okay, I'll leave it on. And so, around 10:30, I get woken up by my cell phone. And it's him, and he wants to know if he can call. I text him back, “Oh, sorry, I'm really congested and feeling sick. I just got to sleep.” 

 

And then, as I'm falling back to sleep, I smell this burning smell. I get up reluctantly, and I look all around my house and there's no source of a smell. But I'm awake now, so I call him and I go, “Yeah. Sorry, I'm awake. I smelled something burning, but there's nothing.” He was like, “Maybe I'm being a neurotic New Yorker, but call 911 and then call me back.” [audience laughter] So, then I did the second most Canadian thing I've ever done, which is I called 911 and apologized for inconveniencing them. [audience laughter] I was like, “I'm sorry, there's probably nothing, but there's a burning smell in my house.” And they were like, “Get out of the house immediately.” [audience laughter] 

 

And so, it was minus 40, which is, by the way, where Celsius and Fahrenheit collide. I put on a parka. and I got out on the sidewalk. As soon as I got out, the fire engine pulls up and they go immediately to the next-door neighbor, which is the duplex I share with them, and they bang the door down and this pillar of smoke comes up the width of the door and just like stains the whole front of the building. My knees come out from under me. 

 

Several hours later, the firemen let me back in my house, and they told me that my neighbor had been taken out alive. She had fallen asleep cooking and she was in critical condition, and that if I had called just five minutes later, she would be dead. And so, I called the New Yorker back, [audience laughter] and he drove up that weekend to see me. It was Valentine's Day weekend. [audience laughter] He brought chocolates. They were Jacques Torres chocolates. I had to keep all the windows open to get the smoke smell out of the house. It was so cold, but he came up and he was so lovely and he kept me warm. [audience laughter] 

 

When I was sat on the train in Amtrak, I really thought my New York trip was complete. I never thought that a thwarted nap by a handsome stranger would have changed my life. In the second time, he interrupted my sleep, he very potentially saved my life. And so, that was pretty great. I take Amtrak a lot now. [audience laughter] Last week, I actually came here from Montreal, and the border guard said, “What is the purpose of your trip?” And I said, “I'm visiting my partner.” And they said, “How long have you been together?” I said, “Three and a half years.” And they said, “How did you meet?” I was like, “On this Amtrak train, and we're having a baby in October.” [audience cheers and applause]

 

Thank you.