Is a platonic relationship possible today? I wonder. It used to be -- I had one that gave me the most memorable summer of my life.
A fellow I worked with was clerking days and going to school nights studying merchandising in preparation to going into the family business. He was from Illinois, and at the time I didn't know the 'family business' consisted of two large department stores in Peoria!
He wanted to see New York, so we did it all, from Ferry rides to Staten Island -- the zoo in the Bronx -- Manhattan from the Cloisters to the Battery -- theaters, art galleries, museums.
There were dinners in the Oak Room at the Plaza and the Cotillion Room at the Pierre -- and my favorite -- lunches at the Penthouse Club, a window enclosed restaurant, sixteen floors up, overlooking Manhattan.
And one real Fairy Tale touch -- a midnight ride in a Hansom through Central Park.
Helen Matcovich, 1990's