‘I Decided to Hide the MetroCard Somewhere at the Terminal’

Free Rides

Dear Diary:

Caro and I spent that college summer back home in Hoboken, traveling to our internships via Port Authority each day.

My internship was unpaid, but it came with the stellar consolation prize of an unlimited monthly MetroCard. I got a monthly bus pass too and bounced happily around the boroughs to see friends on weekends. Some days, I crossed the Hudson four times since all the rides had already been paid for.

I planned to spend the last weekend of that July out of town and I promised Caro my MetroCard before I left so that no free ride would go unused.

But while waiting at Port Authority for a bus to take me upstate, I realized I had forgotten to make the handoff. I decided to hide the MetroCard somewhere at the terminal.

I went to Duane Reade, found the cheesiest greeting card in the racks there and stashed the MetroCard between the third and fourth envelopes behind it. I texted Caro the details of the hiding spot (sending a picture would have been too easy).

On the way home from the city two hours later, Caro found my gift: three days’ worth of free subway rides.