She held her breath, anxious about making the next train to South Station, this bright sunny April morning. She wore a sweater over a turtleneck and was already beginning to sweat. Carrying her heavy suitcase inone hand and clutching her sunglasses and purse in her other, she tried to hail a cab. She crossed Third Avenue by Bloomingdale's.
Finally, she was on Fifth Avenue, and Central Park South. She eyed the cabs lined up along The Plaza Hotel, among horsedrawn carriages. "No, off duty," the cab drivers standing on the sidewalk echoed one another.
"Aren't there any cabs on duty? How do I find which cab is on duty?" she started to shout, on this bright morning in front of the well-dressed tourists outside the Plaza Hotel. And right away, a man rose and opened the door of his yellow car.
"Think I'll make it?" she said.
She curled up on the seat of the long, spacious, luxurious Amtrak train, empty of the rush hour crowd this Friday morning. She curled up on the seat with Esquire Magazine. "Is it time to get out?" she read tearfully. Is it time to quit your job as hub of the office, where you've been for three years, where everyone is crazy about you, where your boss is doing everything to drive you crazy and to keep you from being promoted? She took the quiz. She placed check marks where they applied: I know my boss's job better than she does. I'm with the company for the long haul. I want to make a lasting mark on my field. {sic}
"Sure, things may not be perfect at your job, but think about what you can do to improve your situation," read the answer to her score.
A quietness came over her. She remembered a boy from college as she relaxed on the sun-filled train to Boston. She had not felt this mellow, had time to let her thoughts wander lazily, in a long time. But now, she focused tearfully on the magazine article. When the train finally pulled into South Station, she was almost in tears. She put on her sunglasses to face Liz. She walked down the hot platform in the sunny haze. After months of endless cold...Liz greeted her at the end of the platform, smiling, in a tee shirt and shorts, her long hair pulled back in a ponytail. Liz drove along the breezy highway as they chatted about work in their respective cities.
"Oh! I forgot my make-up. Can we stop somewhere? I left it at Nicole's and my apartment." Debbie suddenly realized. She picked out a bright ruby lipstick and lavender eyeshadow.
