The Handsomest Man in the World

How did people pay $400 for a pair of shoes? I wondered.

I was about 18 and fumbling through life in late-'70s Manhattan, working in a fancy part of town where everything in the store windows was impossibly beautiful and out of my reach. How did people pay $400 for a pair of shoes? I wondered.

I had to pick up something at the Algonquin Hotel one afternoon. I waited in line at some window, picked up the envelope, and turned.

Standing right behind me, inches away, was a man. I looked directly into his eyes and was stunned. I had never seen anyone who looked like that. The hold of his blue eyes (and I'm not even into blue eyes) was like magic. I held his warm, interested, but not flirty gaze for an extra beat, then moved on, back into the ordinary world.

As I walked home I passed a poster. A theater poster. For _Equus._ I had looked into the eyes of Richard Burton.