The Safest Place To Be
New York was great. With gas prices being what they are, with costs going up, that city hasn’t lost a step. The shops and restaurants seem to be as busy as ever. Broadway plays are sold out, and the city is bustling.
We did have dinner at 21, Lunch with the number one selling author in the country last week, Lee Child, visited the MOMA and saw Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. I’d seen it before and it just gets better. Jersey Boys is playing in L.A., Chicago, Vegas and coming to other cities in the next year. Look for it. It’s a very uplifting show.
I interviewed with a freelance writer for an article in SKY Magazine, Delta’s in-house mag. The article should come out in the spring, the same time Bahama Burnout releases. We met in Bryant Park, behind the New York Public Library, sitting in the sun listening to the traffic and construction noise that almost drowns out conversation. After about an hour and a half we said our goodbys and I started to leave the park. Standing on two sets of steps that lead down to the sidewalk were four policemen. They wore Helmets, bulletproof vests, heavy boots, and they all had machine guns cradled in their arms. Two of the men had dogs on strong leashes.
I stopped, debating if I wanted to leave or stay. If something was going down, I wanted to know what. And, I wanted to get out of Dodge if it looked dangerous. After a moment, I decided to take the bull by the horns. I walked up to one of the cops with the machine gun and dog and simply said..”What’s going on?”
He replied. “We show up two or three times a week, all over the city. You never know where we’ll be. It’s a part of our anti-terrorism campaign.”
I nodded. “So it’s safe to be here, in Bryant Park?”
He smiled. “Sir, right now, this is the safest place to be in New York City.”
