Flipping a Coin for Dr. Coyne (Part 7) – The night comes to an end.

I really wasn’t very upset to be kicked out of the Playboy Club. I never really cared much for the night club atmosphere to begin with.  I actually found it a bit amusing.  I sensed our young interns were a bit embarrassed but, alas for the most part, they seemed to have pretty powerful egos and handled it without difficulty.  I actually remember thinking that it it put us on a more level playing field – they weren’t perfect and could make mistakes just like us young student nurses.  

I would have been upset, however, if it meant an early end to our evening out on the town. I had finally gotten into the swing of things and, at that point, I was enjoying myself immensely.   I am not sure who arranged it, but, JJ and I and a couple of other couples from our group, went back to Greenwich Village, to a small place somewhere in the vicinity of St. Vincent’s Hospital.  I believe it was a place that some of the Interns had been to before, although I had never heard of it.  I even remember the name, it was called, “Marie’s Crisis”.   I wonder if any of my SVH classmates remember it.   We walked down a couple of steps and entered a tiny, dark, intimate establishment. To me it looked like a Probation era “speak easy” that I had seen once in a movie.  And, because the place was so tiny and narrow, there were no empty tables left when we entered the room.  “Do you mind if we sit at the bar?” J.J., ever the gentleman said, and I - just so happy to know that our date was continuing, said “that’s fine with me”. I probably would have sat on a blanket on the floor if I had to, but of course, I knew enough (even back then) not to say such a thing.   Even at the tender age of 18, it wasn’t like I had never sat on a bar stool before.   So, we walked to one end of the short, slender bar against the wall at the opposite side of the room and sat down next to each other.  It could have been anywhere, any place, any time, as the rest of the world truly disappeared for me for the entire time we were there.   We talked only to each other and we shared life stories, family history and all kinds of mundane but amazing things.  I don’t remember how long we were there or what time we left.  It might have been the wee hours of the morning.  Not wanting to be restrained by a curfew at 158West 12^th Street Nurses’ Residence, I stayed at Barbara Bildziukiewicz’s home in lower Manhattan the night of the Junior Dance.  J.J. walked me into the hallway of her house, but before we went upstairs to her doorway, we stood talking, and he leaned over and kissed me.    It was a great kiss, and then he kissed me again.  It didn’t feel like an obligatory “end of the night kiss” at all. We genuinely liked each other or at least each other as we were that night. 

 Barbara was home before me. After entering her house, I remember sitting on her bed and talking excitedly about everything that happened that night.  I believe she had a really nice time too, but I was all consumed by my experience.  I wondered aloud if the two kisses J.J. gave me were simply obligatory, “I must kiss the student nurse on the night of her Junior Dance” type kiss, or did he really want to kiss me.   I like to think, he really wanted to kiss me.

The story has one more part to it, but you might not like it.  It is a big part of why I could never finish it before.  Nonetheless I give you my word; I am committed to finishing it now.  By the way I was able to track down Dr. JJ Coyne’s address (with the help of my dear husband of 45 years) and I sent the first three parts of the story to that address.  I have no idea if he received my little memoir.  In the mailing, I promised that I would send him the rest of the story once I finished it.    Some people may think this is terribly bold of me, but honestly, what 79 year old man wouldn’t love a story from his youth?   Especially a story about what one date with him meant to an 18 year old Student Nurse.
By the way, I just went on google search and put in "Marie's Crisis" and low and behold, the place still exists!!