Birds Eye View of the Roaring Twenties

A Birds Eye View of the Roaring Twenties

                                                                                        Suzanne Marsh

               A light dusting of snow covered all of New York City, as Mille Horton watched out her apartment window. Millie found her self wishing she had been more diligent in acquiring a beaded dress, conche hat and shoes, she would wear her mother’s faux fur coat.  Once she was dressed, she felt the part of a flapper from the roaring 20’s. She was so excited to have been invited to one of the finest New Years Eve theme parties that took place at J. J. Masons’ home.  Millie suddenly saw to her complete delight Franklin Monroe, who drove up in a Model T Ford. This was absolutely perfect, they would be the envy of everyone there, after all how many people even had access to a Model T in perfect condition? Franklin looked up and waved and Mille pointing to his watch, it would take more than an hour to find JJ Mason’s home in Manhattan. She had heard so much about it, JJ had purchased it from a movie company after they filmed The Great Gatsby. She could not imagine what the interior would of this fabulous apartment would behold. Franklin knocked on the highly polished wooden door waiting in his Zoot suit. He hoped Mille would like it. He was dressed all in white except for a black dress shirt. Millie could not have been more pleased. She smiled that coquettish smile, and Franklin melted.

               “Millie, we must leave now. I’ll get your coat from the closet.”

                “Franklin, I am using my mother’s faux mink coat, it is actually skunk”

               “I’ll get the coat, hey love that beaded dress, where did you obtain that? It appears to be

                Authentic.”

Millie smiled:

               “Franklin, I found it in the attic of this apartment, there are trunks full of roaring 20’s items.”

Franklin helped Millie on with her coat, admiring the entire outfit including her conche hat, darned if they really did look the part of a couple from the roaring 20’s. They went down the stairs, the Model T waiting, it looked out of place with all the electric cars of 2019. He helped her into the car sounded the car horn, it made Millie giggle it sounded like a circus clowns’ horn. Horns began to blare as they drove across the Brooklyn Bridge, the most the Model T would do was forty five miles an hour. They endured the journey as people passed them like they were standing still.

               JJ Mason, noted the Model T smiling to himself as he noted Mille Horton climbing out with her escort. It promised to be a great New Year’s Eve. JJ opened the huge wooden door and beckoned the new arrivals into the living room. It was like something out of the movie The Great Gatsby, it was done completely in white from the sofas to the rugs, the black grand piano occupied an entire corner, the scene was breath taking. 

               At the stroke of midnight, the group gathered at the piano as JJ played Auld Lang Syne. Millie could feel her eyes filling with tears, as the new year rolled in, 2020. She hoped the traffic would be thinner when they left. Once the champagne toast was done, people began to leave. Millie gave JJ a quick peck on the cheek and a Happy New Year. Franklin, helped her on with her coat took her hand as they left the party.

               Once home, Franklin walked her into her apartment, kissed her good night and Happy New Year.  He headed home the Model T going 44 miles an hour. Millie took off the pink beaded dress and hung it carefully in the closet. She wondered who it had belonged to, there were no names on the trunks. She pulled on her Pajamas, made some hot cocoa with a small shot glass of bourbon to help her sleep. She walked into the living room to check the front door dead bolts. Everything was fine. She climbed into bed and settled down for a good night’s sleep.

               Millie awoke around six in the morning. She got up, looked out the window to see a horse drawn milk wagon. Her apartment was decorated in art deco. The only clothes she could find were dresses she had seen in one of the trunks every day fashions from the roaring 20’s. The telephone was the very old type she picked up the receiver and asked for the operator. She called Franklin, when he didn’t answer she tried JJ. Panic was setting in, how had she managed to find herself in the actual roaring 20’s? 

               She would never discover how she got there, she considered perhaps she was a time traveler, but she had not gone through any stones. She thought of the stories her mother told her about the 20’s, was it possible her mother was a time traveler? She had so many questions and no answers, she wondered if she ever would. However, if this was where she found herself then she would enjoy the roaring 20’s with a birds eye view.