Spring nineteen thirty-one fifth floor Herald Square Hotel nineteen West Thirty-First Street Manhattan physician knocked door suite five hundred fifty-two waited summoned cry hallway voice high frail unmistakably frightened cut through silence corridor four o'clock afternoon four o'clock exactly would mean something later people pieced story together voice belonged very old woman standing just outside door dress had not been washed some time white hair loose around face gone hollows eyes enormous dark absolutely alert way rest not ninety-three years old had not opened door twenty-four years inside suite air carried specific smell rot old paper faint sweetness petroleum jelly cheap cigar smoke layered over years closed windows unwashed fabric lace curtains once ivory gone color old bone every surface stacked newspapers columns reaching mid-thigh cracker boxes flattened refolded stacked again balls used string saved parcels received through crack.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_May...
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https://www.nypl.org/
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