"The Staten Island ferry reminds me of when I was very much in love with this man who I had to hide because he was married and it was such a scandal! We always had to go to Brooklyn and we had to go to Staten Island and we had to go to places where our friends would not see us, because of course when we broke up, we really hadn't broken up. Every place we went had to be where nobody we knew would see us. So when we played tennis, it had to be in New Jersey. And music! Music was very much a part of our lives, so we would go to the Metropolitan Opera or to Madison Square Garden, but we would sit up quite high, wear dark glasses. It was such a scandal! My parents were quite scandalized! And of course he was kind of a famous man, so it had to be handled very delicately and very carefully ... but it lasted many years, and I suppose everyone knew and just thought it was awful. It was 40 years ago, but a day never goes by that I don't think of him a little bit. I live on the thirtieth floor, and I can see all the bridges and the East River ... all the way to the Bronx! And whenever I think about the outer boroughs of Manhattan, it's like a hug that I remember, a firm hand on my back, a confidence. The most attractive man I ever knew fell in love with me."
Polly Mellen
