I have told this story a number of times to friends and it has a lot of logistics in it instead of all words.
To begin with, I used to work in a German Bank in Rockefeller Center and did not start work until 10 A.M. because I did not go home until the Federal Reserve Bank closed at 6:30 P.M. or beyond every evening in order for banks to settle on Fed Fund balances in every banks reserves with the Fed. A complicated formula which I will skip here.
As a result I many times took a leisurely bus ride on the "6" bus up from the Staten Island Ferry. I did so because I was not that fond of subways and I was in no rush and each morning I would read the New York Times on the ferry and continue to do so from the seat of a bus as it traveled north through the Village and up Sixth Ave. (Avenue of the Americas and or "6"th Ave.)
On this particular Spring day around May was about to get off the bus and exit straight from the bus stop into 30 Roc and I walked through that building's lobby on my way to the next Roc Center building where I worked on the 37th floor of the International Building (45 Rockefeller Center).
That is the building with the statue of Atlas in front on Fifth Avenue and across from Saint Patrick's cathedral. On a side note, the windows of this old building were metal framed and you could open the windows in this pre-war skyscraper. Air Conditioning put in after the war and in the winter when the radiators were giving off too much heat, we used to crack the windows open an inch or two to balance the heat with the winter cold pouring in the window.
And on another note, outside my desk in an open office plan, we could witness the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree every year. And in the front office of our manager on the Fifth Avenue side of the building you could look down on Saint Patrick's and witness the columns of police and firemen in formation marching north on St. Patrick's Day or even witness the hearse of deceased Yankee's manager Billy Martin and his casket being carried into the cathedral's front door for his funeral, as I have with one memory.
Well I am trying to exit the 6 bus and a taxi is blocking the spot where the bus stops in front of the 30 Roc building. I see that the bus driver sees me in the exit well and tells me, calls back to me, he has to wait for a green light to let him pull ahead and I could exit.
Just then I see Rudolph Giuliani exit 30 Roc in a dark pin striped suit, where NBC has it studios btw, no doubt talking on air about his run in the local Republican mayoral primary for his first unsuccessful run for mayor, that he has just announced his participation in, and he is surrounded by an entourage of several handlers.
I can see that these handlers leave Giuliani and go running into the street near the back of my stuck bus and they appear to be hailing down a circling limousine. Seeing this through a back window of an older bus.
The handlers leave Rudy and he just stands there motionless, no emotion, no eyes blinking etc. (lost in mental space?) I look at him and am surprised at his motionless being, and not even looking in the direction of his scurrying aides in the street.
He is standing there like a literal mannequin for a few seconds before one of his handlers return and escorts him by the arm into the street and limo.
The light turned green. The bus moved to its designated stop. I exited and went to work.
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