It seemed as if just the other day my daddy was eating eggs, sunny side up, in our apartment on Eighty Fourth Street. They had separate beds, but I thought that this was normal. Nothing could have appeared unusual to me, at the age of three, not even my daddy leaving.

Daddy came into the room I shared with my sister and said, "We're going to take a little walk, my sweetie pies." As soon as he tied our shoes, the three of us were on our way. No questions were asked.

We walked. Daddy held our hands the whole time. I had no real sense of direction. My daddy explained nothing to us while we were walking. He didn't need to, because my sister and I were accepting. The walk seemed to end quickly. We arrived at a towering skyscraper. Our apartment building was tiny compared to this massive one. As we were riding up and up in the elevator, my daddy explained, "This is where I'll be living from now on. Both of you can spend as much time here as you want. It is your place as much as it is mine." I was excited to see the new apartment. The elevator stopped on the twenty-fourth floor. Daddy opened the door to the new apartment. My sister and I ran inside to explore. It was something different from what I was used to. Huge mirrors along the walls reflected my curious face. The living room appeared endless to my small eyes. My daddy lead us into the bedroom. Crayola Crayon sleeping bags were tied up in red ribbons, sitting on his bed for us. The windows throughout the apartment were three times my size. Daddy lifted me and my sister up onto the radiator. We pressed our faces up against the window glass. The people walking along the streets were the size of little bugs. No other building blocked our view of Manhattan. The sun was before us, setting behind other buildings. The sky was red near the sun. As I looked up, the sky became a lighter and lighter shade. I saw pink, my favorite color. I loved everything about the new apartment.

Now that I'm older, I would never walk the distance we walked. It was only twenty blocks, but I'd take a cab. I know why my daddy didn't take a cab, though. As soon as I was old enough to understand, he told me, "I wanted you to know that I'd only be a short walk away." 1