Sunday, July 19, 2009

Here We Are in the City

I expected something terrible to befall us when we got to New York. Surely there would be some scene at the airport where a hardened New York con-man took the wide-eyed Oregonians for all their money, belongings and dignity. However, much to our relief, it all went off without a hitch. On the flight over I played a trivia game with the entire plane. You could answer questions and see how you stacked up against Elliot in 23B or Johnston in 36C. Elliot was quite the competitor and we fought back and forth for the lead on Delta Flight 744 from PDX to NYC. I ended up the champion in answering the following question correctly: Which non head of state or king is buried in West Minster Abby (Charles Darwin).
When the plan landed I found Elliot in 23B and saw that he was 12.
"Good games, Elliot," I said.
"No prob, dude," he said.
Then for the entire taxi ride, everything amazed me. Look, TV's in the cabs. Look, there's a bridge. Look, New Yorkers are crazy when they drive.
Last night I drank wine with friends, made jokes about close encounters with thieves and then fell asleep to the lullaby of taxis and trains.
So far, so good.

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