Dream #6

I'm trying to get to Manhattan for a construction job. But first I have to cash a 25 dollar check in Queens. I'm with two friends who "know" New York. For some reason I'm the one who knows where the bank is and they don't. We approach a dingy outdoor escalator and put an undetermined number of coins in a rusty coffee can to pay for the ride. The escalator is only 2 feet wide with no rails. In the middle is a dirty, worn steel cable to hold on to. You have to take a ticket at the first station at the bottom and climb up to a wooden platform that leads to the second station which is only about 6 feet away. The platform is a chest high "step up". There is a place to put your foot but its only six inches lower than the platform. No one else seems to have a problem with this olympian style feat but I can't seem to manage to lift my foot to chest high. After several agonizing minutes I manage to get my foot up and pull myself onto the platform. I am suffering under the disdainful gaze of veteran New York escalator riders and transit workers. As I begin to walk toward the escalator I drop my ticket. I look at the ticket taker's face and know he is not going to allow me on without a ticket. No one below is even thinking about handing me my ticket so I climb down and get the ticket. I struggle once more back up to the horribly inefficient chest high platform, show my ticket and begin an endless creaking trip to the top.