Ash Kelley

I'm very quiet, and she talked a lot.

We both had struggles with our sexuality, but we had a quick bond.

A few days later, Marianne returned home one afternoon and found a note from Kitty taped to her door.

And it said, we'll call you at the street corner phone booth at 7.

Kitty G. Stop.

Kitty G. Kitty G.

That night, they made plans to meet at Seven Steps, which was a nearby bar.

And from that point on, they were practically inseparable.

Love, love, love.

Kitty and Marion.

For weeks, the two would meet at bars or get together at Kitty's motel room around the corner of the bar.

And Marion said, but that's not real life.

Kitty was happy, but it made me nervous.

I didn't think it was safe.

Who lives in a motel?

Yeah, understandable.

At Marianne's insistence, the two began looking for an apartment and soon found a one-bedroom on Austin Street in the Kew Gardens neighborhood of Queens, right next to the Long Island Railroad Station.

Okay.

Now, decades later, Marianne would remember that time as, quote, one of the happiest years of my life.

Oh, that breaks my heart.