One cloudy Friday afternoon, I went on a journey with my travel partner Ben to explore the small town surrounding our sheltered school: Hightstown, NJ. My first thought was, after two years of walking by and wondering, to go into Madam Eve’s psychic hut on Main Street. I do not really believe that someone can tell me my future, I just find it interesting to think of the possibilities. I had been looking forward to the visit all day and could not wait to go. During first period Calculus class, I was trying to get Ben excited as well. His enthusiasm was convincing enough.
When Ben and I finally started out into town, we talked to one another about our previous travels and the trips we hoped to one day embark upon. I discovered that Ben had gone to South Africa with his family and loved it, but was looking for a different kind of travel experience: independent travel, as in without his parents, flying solo around the World to Asia, North Africa, the Middle East and much more. Once we reached our destination, a small wooden shack with strange Egyptian symbols and figurines in the window such as Anubis and the Eye of Ra, we found a sign on the door which said that she would be at her house and gave the directions. Feeling adventurous, Ben and I decided to find Madam Eve’s house which was supposedly a mile away on 5 Richardson Lane in Hightstown. We turned right onto Franklin Street as directed and continued on that road until the New Jersey Turnpike and the entrance sign into East Windsor came into view. We still had not seen Richardson Lane and figured that we must have missed the turn so we went into a Flower Shop near by on Manlove Road to ask directions. When we stepped into the Flower Shop, I was struck by a powerful aroma of fresh flowers. To my surprise, the Flower Shop seemed to extend on and on with green house after green house. I had never seen a green house so large. Ben and I explored the green houses seeing countless beautiful flowers. Ben informed me that he is not much of flower person because they quickly die and concluded in saying that instead he like trees which could last for hundreds of years. His reasoning made sense, but his view did not cause me to loose my appreciation for the beauty of flowers.
After meandering for a few minutes, we asked a cute old woman behind the desk if she know where Madam Eve lived.
“O yes! Mrs. Eve,” she replied. “She has a house with a big porch not far from here. She has the biggest blonde hair and she loves to sit outside on that porch.”
“Is it past the Turnpike?” I asked.
“O yes, I believe so,” she said with some uncertainty.
We thanked the Flower Shop lady and left the shop. Ben was convinced that she did not know what she was talking about so we went into an old antique shop across the street. On the door there was a sign that said not to let out the cat so I made certain to carefully open and close the door. Sure enough, there was a black cat named Black Jack waiting on the other side of the door. The storekeeper was watching us from behind the counter. He had rather glassy eyes and I noticed that his chin, or should I say chins, folded in such as way that the light cast a shadow on one of the folds making it look like he had a large scare on his neck. We said hello and Ben began to ask the storekeeper about his shop while I went to pet Black Jack who was now on a shelf. Eventually, I asked the storekeeper if he knew where Madam Eve lived.
“You shouldn’t be believ’en in that stuff now. It’s all a bunch of nonsense!” he exclaimed.
The storekeeper continued to lecture me on how no one has the power to tell the future while Black Jack, dark and mysterious as midnight, proceeded to sniff my face with his wet black nose. Ironic? I thought so.
Ben decided that Richardson Lane did not exist and he did not want to go around wasting time to look for it, so our search for Madam Eve came to an incomplete ending. We commenced our walk back to Peddie campus; my walk a bit more of a defeated trudge. My spirits were perked when Ben, always hungry, said that we should go to the famous Hot Bagels for a pre-lunch snack.
We stepped into the bagel shop to find three men busy at work sweeping and straightening the shop. We both order blueberry bagels. While Ben’s bagel was toasting, we started conversing with the owner. He told us that he and his brother had come from Cairo, Egypt! I inquired about the Pyramids and he said that they truly were a beautiful sight to behold. As we left the shop, the owner bid us farewell and promised to let us know next time he went back home to see the Pyramids.
To eat our bagels, we sat down on a bench by the lake. We both took out our notebooks to jot down some notes from the afternoon’s adventure in Hightstown. From where we sat in the heart of Hightstown, I could see Peddie off in the distance. At that moment, I snapped back into my real life and realized how not even two hours had opened up my eyes to the life around me that I had never really took the time to observe. There is a world outside Peddie’s gates if you just take the chance to look.
Note: 5 Richardson Lane does exist! I looked on mapquest.com and found that it was right on the other side of the Turnpike.
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