Brooklyn,1936 

                                                                            Christine                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 I was sitting in the Brooklyn public library, going through the records when suddenly I heard a commotion outside. I rushed out to see what was happening when I saw an extremely scrawny man about my age getting beaten up by a bully.  I took off without any thought to help him and fight off the bully, he may have been a brute but I can assure you I can fight ugly when I want. So anyway I was at first surprised to see the man fight off a bully twice as big as him but I started throwing punches at the bully and shouting (like a total idiot) 'Bugger off!'. After the bully was gone, I helped the boy or man or whatever.. get inside the library and caught him muttering under his breath. I helped him to sit down on a chair and rushed to my desk to grab a piece of clean cloth because he had a cut on his brow.

                       I sat down and dabbed gently at the man's brow, he spoke gently, "There's no need for you to clean it, Ma'am. It's alright. I am so sorry for causing so much trouble to you, miss..." I replied, "My  name is Christine, Christine Florentina Brooke and please call me Chris and certainly not ma'am, it sounds too formal and what is your name, Mr....?" He spoke, "Steve, Steven grant Rogers. To be honest, my first thought was how the heck is such a beautiful lady, no sorry, a beautiful dame...no..a girl could ward off a bully." Externally, I looked serious but Internally, I was cracking up. 

                     I was just peeking outside the glass door and that's when I saw a really gorgeous and boyishly handsome man peeking through the glass door and was looking intently at Steve. Steve motioned for him to come inside and he came inside and sat down beside Steve on a chair. He spoke in a deep yet jovial voice, " Where have you been, you dumb idiot?!" Steve replied calmly, "I was actually having a fight with a jerk, Buck and he started beating me up but Christine here saved me." On hearing this statement 'Bucky' burst out laughing and said," Christine, thank you for saving this punk. Oh, and by the way, my name is James, James Buchanan Barnes. You can call me bucky." I replied, "You can call me Chris if it suits you ." By this point, I was blushing tomato red or so I thought, given the fact that bucky was staring at me weirdly. 

                     I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost 7'o'clock and so I spoke, "Gentlemen, I need to leave now because the library is about to close and so do you." I rose from my seat and gathered my belongings and my coat and Steve and Bucky followed me outside and I put on the closed sign and locked the door from outside and said, "Well boys, it was a pleasure to meet both of you and I look forward to bumping into you again." At the back of my mind, I thought that bucky's last name sounded familiar. I motioned Bucky to come near me and he looked visibly surprised but came anyway. I asked him in a curious tone," What is your father's name ?" He spoke," George Barnes. Why do you.." but stopped midsentence when he saw my facial expression when I was looking at him with a lopsided smile on my face. I clarified," No, I thought I had heard your last name because your father is one of Brooklyn's most influential men, of course." "Of course. "He muttered.

               "Well, goodbye bucky and steve. I hope to meet you both again."I added with a smile on my face. He spoke, "I would love to." Suddenly I heard Steve shouting in the distance, "Come on Buck, or are you planning to stay here the whole day?"I am coming." Bucky said and he left. 

                   I went back home and hung my coat on a hook when Patty, my elder roommate spoke from the kitchen, "How was your day, sweetie?"It was good, Pat. I made two new friends today Steve and James."Ooh, new friends, that is something new and swell, darling." she replied from the kitchen."Hey, pat I feel that they are going to be my friends for really really long.... time. what do you feel?"

                    After finishing our dinner of delicious broth by patty, as we both were going to sleep, patty asked, "Is anyone of them handsome? or looked like they had deep pockets?" "Shut up pat, I have met 'em only once. But..., one of them is handsome and is the son of George Barnes." Patricia almost leaped from her bed and screamed, "You idiot!! you met one of Brooklyn's most influential man's son and you say it like it's nothing! you have got to woo this guy, honey."Did I mention that Patty is a 15-year-old girl trapped in a 30-year-old woman's body and a matchmaker? She is proud of that fact and must have tried to set me up with at least a dozen people ( but I have successfully dodged all her attempts).                                              

                         Pat looked at me imploringly, "Please, Please Chris." Pat was irritating but was good at heart. I spoke gently but with firmness, "Pat, you know why I don't want to get involved in romantic relationships now." Pat looked crestfallen but said, "Yep, I know why."   

  later in the day 

Bucky

                I looked at Steve and said, "Steve, I think Christine is a nice person and I look forward to meeting her." Steve spoke teasingly," Looks like someone likes somebody else." I jokingly hit him on the shoulder with an indignant 'hey'. I explained, "No, you idiot, I mean she's different from other girls and you know what I mean." We headed towards Steve's home and after dropping him off, I went back to my home which just happened to be in one of the best parts of Brooklyn. I looked forward to meeting Chris again and talking to her again.

               I rung the doorbell and walked down the passage of our huge (Understatement of the year) house. I glanced at the portrait of my father and my late mother. Later as I went to bed, I felt that maybe I, steve and Chris are going to be best friends for the rest of our lives. It felt as if it was preordained. More of a deja vu.