Dear Diary:
A late July evening, 2010. My young Czech friend Pavel, who never travels without a huge camera hanging from his neck, was making his first visit to New York.
I took him to the Sheep Meadow, where he began snapping pictures of the skyline as night fell. The air was heavy and a strong wind rose. Lightning and thunder cracked the air. Almost instantly there was a huge downpour. I remembered the brick hot-dog stand, so we ran for cover. The hot-dog stand had turned into Le Pain Quotidien, and we joined a growing crowd of refugees from the storm, huddled on the covered patio.
Quite a mixed crowd - lithe blond women, Latino delivery bikers, muscle men with tiny dogs. The staff of Le Pain Quotidien began to remove the chairs, and it was clear they wanted to close up and go home. But the rain got even heavier.
Then we could hear people laughing some distance away, a nd nine young people, guys and girls around 19 or 20, ran under the cover, laughing, shrieking, evidently enjoying themselves. It was clear they were performers of some kind. Then the tallest of them stepped out into the rain and performed an amazing ballet routine. This brought much applause. This inspired one of the girls to perform her ballet in the rain.
After two more solos, and much crowd approval, they danced an ensemble, in the pouring rain, to great applause. I was thinking, Pavel probably thinks this happens in New York all the time. The dancers wore themselves out, and with more laughter returned to the shelter. And then, to everyone's surprise, the manager and staff of Le Pain Quotidien marched out carrying trays of croissants, muffins and bread, urging us all to take as much as we pleased.
Everyone seemed very happy, and went home with a treat. Gradually the rain lessened and the crowd dispersed.
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