The Storm

Chapter One

The Storm

A llow me to introduce myself. My name is Zachary Allen Bronson Taylor, which is a very long name for a very small guy. I am presently working as a junior reporter for the Brooklyn Free Press, which sounds impressive, but in truth it’s just a small, downtown newspaper with a loyal group of readers. I love my job and old Brooklyn as well. I’ve been in Brooklyn about nine years now and live in a small apartment on the 15th floor right on 43rd Street. Looking straight out of my window I see the old Armor Building which housed some of the government offices during World War II. After it stayed abandoned for some years, it was converted into an apartment building. Why do I l ove Brooklyn? Maybe it’s the history of the city that intrigues me, or just the energy here. Who knows? 43rd Street is lined with little family shops. There are Italian pizzerias, Armenian shoe shops, Jewish clothing stores, Chinese laundries, Korean grocers, German locksmiths, and Greek restaurants, along with jewelry stores, pawn shops, bookstores, newsstands, antique shops, and every imaginable business that you could think of. When I first moved here it was always my guess as to what accent I would hear when walking into a shop, but the Brooklyn brogue was always present in one form or another.

7