Art, Terri Erickson

was eight hours a week teaching in the School of Pharmacy laboratories and my availability to substitute lecture for two professors, for which I would be paid $5 extra for each lecture.

I was elated to go to New York City and, found room and board with an Irish family near Fordham University. At $45 a month, I discovered transportation on the subway or buses would average $10 a month, Laundromat $5 a month and I had $30 a month or more for flexible spending. Eating out in restaurants like Luchow’s, German food, or Mama Leone’s, Italian, my two favorites, averaged $6 a person for 3 courses. Meatball subs near the university cost $1. Although my studies and research consumed most of my time, I would spend some time each week exploring the city, its museums, 5th Ave. and Madison Ave. shops, and the 42nd St. theatre district. The first show I attended was a movie at Radio City followed by a Rockettes’ performance. I no longer longed to be a member of that group. Instead I focused on developing teaching and more scientific research skills. I made friends with fellow students, most of whom were East Indian and I discovered an interest in different cultures and a desire to travel to other countries.

I received my graduate degree at the end of one year, married a US Army Lieutenant who was born in New York City and travelled to Germany within the next year. I began teaching Environmental Science for the University of Maryland in Europe, which needed a science professor so that military students could complete degree requirements. In New York I found adventure and the foundations of a career, along with lifelong interests in live theatre, art, and learning.

Volume 1, Issue 2 | Winter/Spring 2018 | THE BEACON 13

Christmas Eve in New York City

Patricia Szabo

2

Christmas Eve in New York City. What a wonderful place to be. Alex and I, along with Molly, Billy and Eva have come to the city for the holiday. A walk to Bryant Park, just behind the Library on 42nd Street is on the agenda for this Christmas Eve afternoon. Leaving Alex in the hotel, so he can rest for this evening’s celebration with our friends, the rest of us walk the six blocks to the park. It’s warm and sunny and the park is full of people going in and out of the artisan pop-up shops. We wander over to the huge Christmas tree in the center of the park, and just as I’m walking up the steps, a young man drops to one knee and proposes to his girlfriend. It’s a magical moment and I unzip my bag to get my camera to snap a picture. Molly, Billy and Eva are at the tree and I snap a picture of them as well. What a perfect day. We walk into a shop and as I get ready to make a purchase, my hand in my bag can’t locate my wallet. I know the texture and shape of this wallet. Surely I don’t need to look inside my bag to locate it…but I do. My eyes and my hand search for that slim distinctive leather case. My heart starts to pound, I can’t find it! It’s not there. I look up at the clerk, eyes pleading, “I can’t find my wallet,” I say. He encourages me to look again. When I’m completely sure that it’s not there, I tell Molly that I’m going back to the hotel. During that six block walk-run back to the hotel, I review: everything I need for the trip is in that wallet, credit cards, cash, and driver’s license. Do I know who to call to cancel the cards and what about the money…it can’t be replaced and then how am I going to fly home with no ID. I try to calm myself, try to reassure myself that I can take care of this, but hell no, I am not calm, I am upset at myself for opening my bag, I am disappointed in humanity and the person who is probably making thousands of dollars of charges on my cards, and I am sad that 2017 has been such a bad year, and that it’s going to end like this. By the time I get back to the hotel, the adrenalin has coursed through my body and I can feel it seep through my ears. I’m in the elevator. The trip to the sixteenth floor seems to take forever. I don’t have my room key — it was in my wallet, so I bang, with a fist, on our door and yell for Alex to open up.

14 THE BEACON | Winter/Spring 2018 | Volume 1, Issue 2