Que sera, sera

I visited New York City for the first time in 1985. I was quickly taken with the subway.

It's vast, ugly in various ways, showing its age, and sometimes dangerous, and yet it's place of real people, and interesting experiences.

I didn't have a lot of cash with me, and in fact, I had basically run out of it. That was OK because I was heading home (to DC) by Amtrak, but first I was taking the Broadway line to Penn Station.

There was this young girl (I was only 27 at the time and so "young" meant younger than that) -- African American we would say now, "black" we said then --- singing "Que Sera, Sera", and it was so beautiful, even better than Doris Day, that I wanted to contribute some money to her, but I had none -- not even a cent. I had a cash card but in those days such things couldn'tbe used outside your own state.

I waited for my train there in the 96th Street Station on Broadway and then my train came and the moment was lost.

I hope she forgives me for not rewarding her for supplying the most memorable part of my first trip to Manhattan.

A New York memory.