Christopher Columbus High School - Anchor Yearbook (Bronx, NY)

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THE OPPORTUNITY EveryThing seemed To be righT ThoT doy. A Trc1gronT breeze woTTed over The Fordhom porks. There, nurses, in shimmering whiTe, wheeled boby corrioges ond looked crisper Thon usuolg The bobies Too looked rosier, ond The comicol, ToT men who soT on The benches ond Ted The pigeons looked more ioviol ond Triendly. Even The policemon oT The inTersecTion seemed like o brighT-eyed chipmunk To me os he puTTed ouT his cheeks ond blew on his whisTIe. As I swung olong beside my girl Triend Cloire, I kepT looking oT The crumpled od in my hond ond every Tew TeeT I couIdn'T sTop Trom singing o liTTle jingle: Splendid opporTuni-Toes, You'II geT oheod in so mony woys, So come in ond see us one oT These doys, Then in Three monThs you'II geT o roiseI Ch, will you cuT ThoT ouT? Cloire soid. BuT Cloiref' I Ioughed, isn'T iT Thrilling? We'II hove o iob. Our TirsT job. We hoven'T goT iT yeT, she soid. Oh, oT course we'II geT iT, I Told her conTidenTIy. They're proc- Ticolly begging Tor help. Didn'T you heor? ond I begon ogoin, roTher ierkily, Splendid opporTuni-. . All righT, oll righTI solid Cloire covering her eors. AT losT we reoched The pIoce ond The gilT IeTTering on The em- pIoymenT enTronce smiled oT us. Inside, The wolls were poinTed seo-Toom green, The IighTs on The ceiling were long ond oblong ond cuT in sguores like Troys oT ice-cubes, in every corner oT The room were Iorge Tons. In The cenTer oT The room wos o lorge, wolnuT desk, ond o womon's heod bobbed up behind o sign soying Apply I-Iere. The womon had o dry, cloy-like Toce. She honded me on oppIicoTion wiTh o hond Tronsversed wiTh Tiny blue Threods. In o prominenT ploce wos o huge opol ThoT shoT sparks oT Cloire ond me. Mrs Jocobs will inTerview you in The nexT room, she soid. Ivlrs. Jocobs wos o smoll, jolly womon wiTh soTT, downy Tuzz on her Toce. The guesTions were shorT ond simple. I Tound Them eosy To onswer unTiI The ineviTobIe Why do you wonT o iob in This compony? wos shoT oT me. Well, uh, well, I sTuTTered. I had olwoys Tound iT diTTicuIT To soy I wos doing someThing Tor The money involved. I soid, I heor ThoT This is o wonderTuI compony To work Tor. Ivlrs. Jocobs looked doubTTuI. All righT, she soid. PIeose woiT ouTside Till The TesTs begin. Cloire come ouT inTo The woiTing room. She looked red ond TIusTered. I'm going, she soid in o TIoT, nosol voice, I don'T like The hours so I'm going. BuT . . . Oh, oll righT, So long. And she wos gone ond I TeIT lonely. All righT, Ivliss, you con come in now, soid Ivlrs. Jocobs. The TesT room wos poinTed ThoT some green ond There wos o long Toble wiTh low porTiTions ThoT could be seen over cleorly. The TesTs I Took were Three minuTes eoch ond colled Tor speed ond occurocy. They were speed, speed, ond more speed. Once I looked over ond sow The girl nexT To me wos TurTher in The TesT Thon I ond I wroTe TronTicciIIy. Surely The TosTesT would geT The iob. Speed wos oll ThoT moTTered, oc- curocy could go hong. AT losT iT wos over ond I reTurned To The woiTing room.

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Nm AA N f'WfN Q Q I 7' me 5 5 WSMMIES GI-I SCH X M-'SSRN

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I had been waiTing a halT hour and despiTe The lovely condiTions I became resTIess. I TidgeTed. I was hungry. I was hoT and I sTarTed To sweaT. To while away The Time I waTched The woman behind The walnuT desk and began To imagine myseIT growing inTo This woman in several years, my hair gray, liTeless, and wispy. I would be wearing a durable blue dress ThaT hung on me and coarse, coTTon sTockings. I would be a skimper, a saver, a grubber Tor The aImighTy, all-powerTul dollar be- cause no maTTer whaT I had said, ThaT was The reason I had Taken The job. I would waiT, longingly, Tor Those Two weeks wiTh pay when I could sTeal Trom The ciTy wiTh my savings and splurge in ATIanTic CiTy or Asbury Park. I would live in a musTy railroad TlaT in a crusTy, yellow-brick TenemenT. I would have rings Too, oh yes, many rings. These were Things ThaT I had wanTed wiTh rabid inTensiTy in my youTh. I'd wear Them on hands ThaT bulged wiTh rope-like veins and They would look like scars raTher Than Things oT beauTy. Then would come The long awaiTed day oT reTiremenT when I could go ouT in The park and Teed The pigeons. Ivly nighTmare was inTerrupTed by a curT, sharp call. You can come in, Miss. IT was a diTTerenT inTerviewer This Time. She was shorT and sTiTT and her mouTh opened and shuT like a mouse Trap. We wish To TesT your reading abiliTy. Read This, she snapped. The TirsT word was Susquehanna and Then a number. IT's simple I Told myselT, JusT Sus, gue, as in gueasy, and hanna. Susgueekhora I said To The inTerviewer. She didn'T say anyThing, iusT sTared. There were abouT nine more and one was very easy, iusT Fordham 8I2S. By This Time I had reached The peak oT Tension. I checked over The number and said, Fordham I85I. She sTill didn'T say anyThing, WiTh a gasp I Tinally Tinished. I'm sorry, said The woman coldly, buT we have no posiTions in This company Tor you. Thank you Tor coming. I sTood ouTside The employmenT enTrance Tor a momenT and shivered as The sharp wind blew on The back oT my neck. I had losT my splendid opporTuniTy. Lillian ElbThol Llp., pm ' . PM IAO H-n Xax N aw C ow NX I wk L,- T' g,,,f'i ,.. , I Q , ' Er wiv h 3 I Tl si Y ru 'f' , ' f I T y I may y, I . UE Tl H 0 '