Understanding Hightstown

The sun was beginning to break through the dense late morning clouds. It was clear that the town had been awake for some time already, as the people and traffic moved fluidly through their daily routines. Hilary and I were in Hightstown, New Jersey and were on a mission to find Ms. Eve, the renowned psychic whose shop sat at the north end of Main Street, and whose wizardry and depth of understanding was unparalleled and known the world over. Hilary sought answers to her questions about the dance planed for the following evening, who would she dance with? How would her dress look? And other questions that girls might ask, while questions of what I might ask Ms. Eve ran through my head. Though I kept coming back to one question as we strolled down Main Street. How did a town such as Hightstown come to acquire a woman of such limitless knowledge and understanding? What was it about Hightstown drew her here and how could this seemingly normal town accommodate such a powerfully abstract woman?

When we got to Ms. Eve’s shop there was a note along with a map on the door that read:

I will not be in my shop. If you would like to talk to me come see me at my house at 5 Richardson Street.

-Ms. Eve

We studied the map and oriented ourselves in the direction of Ms. Eve’s house. The feeling of setting off in a foreign place with a new destination was exhilarating. Though we had our new destination and intended on finding it soon, we did not hesitate to explore the rest of Hightstown amidst the morning rush. We stopped in a small store owned by Hispanic immigrants called G + C Variedades; the small and unadorned store front did not do justice to the establishment itself which offered everything from soccer jerseys to money orders. After leaving G + C’s we headed further up Main Street, Hilary was determined to find Ms. Eve while my second wave of morning hunger was kicking in, we compromised and stopped for a snack at Hot Bagels. The small family run bagel store was ideal, the fact that the morning rush was over, clerks were cleaning and only a handful of bagels remained on the shelves offered us the chance to talk with the owner himself. Over a crispy toasted blueberry bagel we learned that the owner and his family hailed from Cairo, Egypt and that he had entered the bagel business after his brother had come to the States and learned the art of bagel making. Upon finishing our bagels and gathering to leave the owner told us that he too would come visit us “one day he would come visit [us]”. When traveling, a traveler can always pick out other travelers in moments such as those, at that point I realized that he too knew the life of a traveler and may have once been in a very similar position.

So the long and arduous journey up Franklin Avenue in search of 5 Richardson Street continued. Along the way we were met with obstacles like an open fire hydrant which sprayed red rusty water over everything within a fifteen foot radius. Our next stop came at a local but what we learned to be a very large scale flower and landscaping business. The folks at Comisky’s Greenhouses were very hospitable. Speaking with Marlene, Comisky’s manager of over 30 years, we learned that the store itself had been there for far longer than that and had grown significantly, now reaching all the way down Manlove Avenue. We looked to Marlene for information about Ms. Eve and Richardson Street. Of course she knew of Ms. Eve, but was less sure of her whereabouts. Marlene was a gracious host and offered that we tour the grounds and see the endless array of flowers blooming in their greenhouses. We accepted the offer and then continued on our way. Venturing farther up the street towards the turnpike overpass and still not seeing any sign of Richardson Street, we stopped at an old red house converted into an antique showroom. Our options were limited at this point on Franklin Street and we hoped that if it was open they might be able to direct us to Richardson Street. Sure enough it was open, the owner was sitting just inside the door with his friendly cat, Blackjack. The owner who had lived there for over 40 years could offer little information about the mysterious Ms. Eve, though he did mention that he had encountered other travelers in the past who had sought 5 Richardson Street.

And so the mystery would remain unsolved. It was getting late and time to head back, we accepted the fact that we may not have found what we set out to find, but we were reminded of the fact that a true travelers plans rarely meet every goal but sometimes surpass others along the way. Our journey had answered my early question of what drew a psychic like Ms. Eve to the seemingly dull town of Hightstown, New Jersey. The answer is its diversity, its people and its places like those that we met and got to know today were all very different. Hightstown is a place where someone like Ms. Eve can find her own niche and fit right into the community because of this diversity. The mystery of Ms. Eve will remain unsolved but what our journey did reveal to us was the mystery of Hightstown.

Ben