The Tender Bar

Moehringer remembers being astonished when the New York Times called and offered him one of their positions for new graduates. On his way into New York, he ran into Sidney on the train and told her that it couldn’t be a coincidence that they kept on coming together; the “universe” must want them to be together.

Meeting up with his friends in New Haven, Moehringer was assaulted by a group of young men and, as a result, went into his Times interview the following day with a black eye and bloodied shirt. As he explained his reverence for the Times to his interviewer, Moehringer realized why the paper held such appeal for him. He felt that journalism was the perfect combination of status and individuality that could make his mother proud while offering him an interesting, morally satisfying career. His interviewer noticed his storytelling ability and said she would try her best to get him a position. He returned, triumphant, to Publican's bar where his Uncle Charlie toasted him.

Sidney had sent him a photo of herself and a letter in which she told him again how much she loved and missed him but still needed “time.” Moehringer writes that if he had waited for her, they would have ended up together and shared a stable middle-class life.