ROCKEFELLER CENTRE

Then I decided to follow her, and I went forward to the edge of the rink to rent some skates. It wasn’t so full, and although I was an inexpert skater I stepped onto the rink spurred on by the novelty of having an encounter with her on ice. I hesitated for sometime at first on the edge of that great frozen rectangle, holding firmly onto the wooden barrier as I tentatively tested my abilities on the skates. Then I ventured out a few steps, with enough impetus to slide furtively as I pushed myself forward with my feetpointed diagonally, digging the blades into the ice with increasing self-assurance, until I got to the curve and tried to cross the rightfoot over the left to make the turn, but with such poor coordination that the back of my right blade got jammed into the front of the left, and I lost my precarious balance and dove head first at the feet of the statue of Prometheus while the other skaters dodged about me and eyed me with either commiseration or mockery.