Missing Mother by Barbara Bracht Donsky

Author:Barbara Bracht Donsky
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2017-05-23T04:00:00+00:00

Nursing a cup of coffee, while reading Atlas Shrugged at the luncheonette on Fordham Road, a young woman sits down next to me and begins rifling through a shopping bag filled with what look to be textbooks. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as she pulls them out, one by one. Curious, I ask if she goes to college. When she says she goes to Fordham, it’s a slap-your-forehead moment.

Fordham University? I didn’t know women went to Fordham! I thought it was all male, like Fordham Prep. My mind’s racing, trying to find a toehold in a rapidly shifting landscape. Do you take classes up the block at the Rose Hill Campus?

She does, but only on Saturdays. Most of her classes are given evenings at the City Hall Campus on lower Broadway.

Lower Broadway? Besieging her with questions, I learn that she’s accumulated fifty-four credits by taking classes at night, four nights a week. Her words fill me with hope, leave me feeling as light-headed as a helium-filled balloon. At last, I can see a way forward.

Within days, a catalog arrives from Fordham, announcing fall classes will be starting in two weeks. If eager to sign up, I’m short money, so I ask my father if he could help me out. Temporarily, that is.

I’m not asking you to give me the money, but I have $225 put aside, so if you could loan me, say, another $150, I could register for two courses. Otherwise, I’ll miss a whole semester. He turns me down.

If you want to go to school, do it on your own dime. Save your money, start next term.

But that’s not until February. I’ll miss the fall term. I hate hearing myself whine, but sometimes I can’t help myself.

What’s your hurry? By February, you might change your mind.

What’s my hurry? I’m late getting started. I won’t change my mind. I don’t want to waste a semester when I could be earning credits toward a degree.

He shoots down my hopes as easily as ducks in a shooting arcade. Ayn Rand says: Don’t let anyone kill that spark in your soul. Choose your own values and hold fast. Success will come in time.

Are you sure, Miss Rand?

FEBRUARY. The night is bitter cold, the streets thronged with people hurrying home, hurrying to meet friends, hurrying to get to classes. Coming up from the subway at Chambers Street, I step into a world that’s bristling with energy and momentum, with skyscrapers blocking out a wintry sky. The limestone building at 302 Broadway has a sign off to one side reading: Fordham University, City Hall Division. Paralyzed between dread and desire, my heart stands still, while my brain fumbles and frets. Am I smart enough to do college work or will I be exposed as an imposter who fooled the Admissions Department? Ayn Rand says when you find yourself caught in a contradiction, check your premises, for one of them is sure to be wrong. Summoning her face to mind—the sharp

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.