<p>THAT AFTERNOON&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; I went to work at the music store as<br />

usual. It was just around the corner from where we lived&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; and I<br />

worked there every afternoon from three o clock until seven&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; while<br />

its owner&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; a violin and piano teacher on the side&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; gave the lessons<br />

which more or less supported the store. There was apparently no<br />

great passion for music in the Bronx at that time&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; and the sparseness<br />

of the customers&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; other than Mr. Levenson s pupils themselves&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; al-<br />

lowed me to finish my homework as rapidly as possible and then<br />

pore greedily over as many copies of Theatre Magazine as the library<br />

would allow me to take out at one time.<br />

It was&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; as far as I was concerned&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; the perfect job. There was usually<br />

even enough time&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; before Mr. Levenson returned at seven o clock&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; for<br />

a good half-hour or so of pure&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; idle dreaming; a necessity as basic<br />

to a twelve-year-old boy as food and drink. I was thoroughly<br />

conscious of the fact that my own dreams of glory were quite unlike<br />

those of the other boys on the block&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; for the fantasies and specula-<br />

tions I indulged in&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; after I had reluctantly turned the last page of<br />

Theatre Magazine&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; were always of Broadway. They were fantasies<br />

because though I had been born in and had lived in New York City<br />

all of my life&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; I had never actually seen Broadway.<br />

In my twelve-year-old world it was permissible to work after school;<br />

it was&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; in fact&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; rather a necessity. The four dollars I earned every<br />

week was an item that counted heavily in the shaky family budget&iuml;&frac14;&OElig;<br />

but the rules did not permit my going downtown alone. True&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; I<br />

had passed underneath Broadway many times in the subway on the<br />

[3]<br />

<br />

&nbsp;</p>