Peggy and Amy left, feeling a little foolish about their costumes, but after walking for a block or two, they realized that nobody was even looking at them.
“That’s the wonderful thing about New York,” Peggy said. “You can wear anything, or do anything, and nobody seems to care as long as you don’t disturb the peace.”
Amy nodded in agreement. “The other day I noticed a man with a beard down to his waist. He was wearing a long Biblical-looking white robe and a pair of sandals, and nobody on the street was paying the least bit of attention to him. Just try to picture him passing unnoticed in Pine Hollow or in Rockport!”
“Just try to picture us passing unnoticed in Pine Hollow or in Rockport!” Peggy laughed. “We’d probably have a crowd of people and barking dogs and small boys throwing stones by now!”
The driver scarcely glanced at them as they boarded a bus.
“I suppose it’s nice to know that nobody bothers about you in New York,” Peggy said when they were seated, “but in a way it’s kind of scary. I mean, supposing something were to happen to us, do you think that anyone would even notice it if we screamed?”
Amy shivered. “I know what you mean,” she said. “I suppose a lot of people would notice it, and then they’d just put it out of their minds and do nothing about it. They’d just figure it was none of their business, after all, and go right on doing what they were doing.”
The thought was not a happy one, and both girls lapsed into a tense silence as the bus bore them downtown into the deepening twilight.
They got off in a district of office buildings, shops, and showrooms, all dark now. The streets were empty, save for an occasional car or taxi and the taillights of their bus, receding in the distance. As they turned to the west, down a narrow side street, the street lights came on. They seemed to accentuate the darkness rather than relieve it. The girls hurried on past closed doors and shuttered windows. Each block they walked brought them past older and lower buildings. The smell of the river was brought to them by an incoming mist. Somewhere in the distance a foghorn sounded two short, mournful blasts and then was still.
They were in the market and warehouse district now. Parked trucks stood silently by darkened loading docks, and shadows crouched behind tall stacks of crates and boxes. One shadow suddenly detached itself from the rest and shot by them with a wail! Peggy’s heart leaped and she clutched Amy’s arm before she realized it was only an alley cat.