The day appeared to get slower and slower for Anna as the sun tracked across the sky. She sat in an armchair on the third story of an old brick building, overlooking Washington DC from a large window. She had nothing better to do than observe the hurried nature of the population below. The rigorous curriculum at St. Albans had taken a toll on her mental energy for the day. As the clock struck twelve, however, the battle was over for now. “Okay guys, get to lunch,” Mr. Smith, her Statistics teacher said. “I believe it's burrito bowl today, great way to end the week!” 

Anna had already known that she was going to be having a burrito bowl for lunch though. Her mind and spirit were exhausted so she had been planning a quick walk around DC to Chipotle. She didn’t really know why but this always allowed her to finish out the day strong. As she walked down the disheveled sidewalk she hung her head downward, not just to make sure she didn't step on an uneven piece of concrete, but also to shield her face from the wind that was in front of her. There was nothing in particular about Chipotle that she was drawn to, she actually found the restaurant kind of gross, the portions too much for her, and the music distracting. The reason that she looked forward to making this trek every Friday was because of a special stop that she made on the way. Her older sister Meg recently started a new position at the nicest hotel in the city, the Mayflower. Meg's dream had always been to work at the Mayflower since she was a little girl. It had an air of prestige to it. No matter how affluent you were, you weren’t important enough to be standing in its presence. The only person who can call it home is the Gypsy Woman.

Anna wishes she could say that she went to the Mayflower to visit her sister, but deep down she knew the Gypsy woman was the thing that kept pulling her in. The Gypsy woman was an old, homeless lady that has been singing outside the Mayflower for what seemed like an eternity. She just shows up in the morning and disappears into the night, only leaving behind a catchy melody in the head of whoever was fortunate enough to be walking past her that day. She didn’t really sing songs though, it was just melodies and humming. But Anna could understand what the Gypsy woman was saying, there was a sense of hope and contentment in her voice that was unrelenting. The music lifted you up, even on the gloomiest of days. More than a school burrito bowl ever could. 

When Anna finally looked up from the sidewalk in front of the Mayflower the wind finally attacked her and left her blinded for a second. When she regained vision she was dumbfounded. She wasn’t there. There was no music. Anna rushed into the Mayflower and found Meg on the phone behind the front desk. She frantically motioned to her sister that it was an emergency and Meg found someone to quickly pass the phone off to. 

“What’s wrong?” Meg asked hurriedly. “It looks like you’ve just seen a ghost”

“Where is she” Anna pleaded.

“We didn’t see her yesterday either” Meg solemnly stated. “I didn’t know how to tell you”

Anna slowly turned around and walked right back outside with her sister apologizing to her as she left, but Anna wasn’t listening. She put her bag down and took off her kilt. She didn’t have a blanket unfortunately but this would have to do. She laid it out across the pavement in front of the Gypsy woman’s famous window. Anna used to sit inside of the Mayflower on weekends and stare at her for hours through it. Anna proceeded to cross her legs and sit on top of her kilt and build up some courage. After a minute or two Anna started singing. Not really any song in particular, just melodies and humming. She sat there for probably ten minutes and people would nod their heads as they walked past. Knowing what was happening. Eventually, Anna got up because she was already running late for class. When she got back on her feet, however, she was filled with a sense of hope and contentment. She was ready to finish out the day strong.