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Chapter 29

WHEN ENGLISH GENTLEMEN WENT HUNTING A LONG TIME AGO,

they would occasionally cry at the top of their lungs, "Soho!" (I&039;m not sure why Maybe Soho was Tallyho&039;s brother or sorounds near London were paved over to build shops, theaters, and nightclubs, sohborhood "Soho"

Rather later still, a derelict bit of industrial New York just south of Houston Street was being rebuilt with shops, theaters, and nightclubs, and yet another real-estate genius decided to rebrand this cool new neighborhood "SoHo,"into the act The folks north of Houston said they lived in "NoHo," lower Broadent by "LoBro," and the area North Of Where Holland&039;s Entrance Rely, NOWHERESville

So ue fever

These days, when young, cool types are hunting for shops, theaters, and nightclubs, they have been known to cry out, "Due Overpass, a landscape of crue of the truly cool This week

Here&039;s how to get there:

We rode the F train to York Street, the cutting edge of Brooklyn The train was pretty quiet, just the usual coolsters carrying guitar cases and laptops, decorated with tattoos and ners/writers/artists/fashion designers I even recognized one of the a first novel set in a coffee shop

Jen and I climbed out of the station and walked up York To our left, the span of Manhattan Bridge stretched back over the river For once I didn&039;t have that vague disco in Manhattan Given that the anti-client was ade cool hunters, itup here Most of the obvious hipsters on the train had gotten off with us, lighting up cigarettes and cell phones as they disappeared down the old streets and into restored industrial buildings I earnestly hoped that this neighborhood would still be cool when I moved out from my parents&039; place, but I doubted it I would probably be letting out a hunting cry of «NewJerZo» by the time I could afford a place ofus to Flushing Avenue and past the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the home of Two-by-Two Productions

I&039;d seen old pictures of the yard in the Museu the iant hunk of space iron that had concealed o as people tried to figure out what to do with thirty-four tons of extraterrestrial souvenir I wondered if it had pulled the co ships toward it and if this corner of Brooklyn was one of those mystic spots that had always attracted weird stuff It was na elephant, after all

These days the Brooklyn Navy Yard has no e ship-construction buildings have been turned into filiant open spaces for the companies who create sets for Broadway musicals

"I wonder why the anti-client needs this

"Scary question You could hide anything out here A fleet of airships, a plague of locusts a suburban house and lawn"

"Jesus And you think I&039;m wired funny"

We wandered into a security office and asked how to find Two-by-Two Productions The guard pulled his eyes fro again?"

"Uh, yeah"

"Thought they wereout on Monday"

"That&039;s still the plan," Jen said, nodding "But they said they wanted to see us right away"

"Okay" He reached for a stack of photocopied maps of the navy yard, scrawled a red X on the top one, and handed it over as his eyes drifted back toward the television

Outside, Jen was incensed "Casting? I can&039;t believe he thought we looked like actors" (Most Innovators don&039;t like actors, who are, by definition, iave a pretty convincing perforlared atan ad for the shoe"

"Well, I&039;d be into that, I guess But the thought that we ca" She shivered

The navy yard was al after the narrow streets of Manhattan We walked under giant arches of rustedpaint, crossed paved-over railroad tracks that raised long ripples in the asphalt We wandered between ancient, erowling butts of air conditioners

"Here it is," I said

The na door set into an old brick building you could have hidden a battleship in

I felt le: this was the h soalfate

"So hoe get in?" I asked

"Maybe this way?" Jen pulled at the huge handle of the door, and it slid open "Yeah, that worked"

"But that means"

Jen nodded and held up her Wi-Fi bracelet, which sparkled She fingernailed a tiny switch to douse its light and whispered, "Itup for the move Better be quiet"

Inside, it was pitch black

We crept ahtless silence Jen buainst the concrete floor We both froze until the echo trailed away, suggesting a vast space around us

As rew accustomed to the darkness, the cluster of objects around me felt somehow familiar, as if I had visited this place before I forcedthrough a s on the

"What does this look like to you?" I whispered

"I don&039;t know A closed restaurant?"

"Or a set that&039;s supposed to look like a restaurant Sort of like the one in the Poo-Sha to recall the advertiseuy orders lack of ram"

She looked around "Are you sure?"

"No" I squinted into the darkness, letting shapes form before my eyes "Are those old theater seats over there?

"Why would they be?"

"There was a scene in a theater Where the usher gets all tongue-tied"

"Why would they build a theater on a sound stage?" Jen shook her head "We&039;re in New York, land of theaters, and they couldn&039;t go on location?"

"Huh" I crossed to the group of seats It was only five or so rows,as a backdrop But Jen was right It seemed like a crazy expense in a city full of real theaters, not to mention restaurants "Maybe they wanted a controlled situation Absolute secrecy"

"Maybe they&039;re just nuts," Jen said

"That&039;s one thing I&039;m pretty sure - "

"Shhh "Jen stood stock-still in the darkness She cocked her head and pointed to our left