The mighty structure was, indeed, totally deserted. Its huge span rose into the blizzard and disappeared in the whiteness. There were barriers across the roadway, and the railcars were sitting by their platforms, frozen solid. The policeman had wisely occupied the tollbooth, where pedestrians paid their penny to cross. He had a lamp in there to keep himself warm, and was unwilling even to open the little window to speak to her.

“Whaddaya mean, it’s closed?” she cried. “It’s a goddam bridge.”

“It’s closed. Too dangerous, lady,” he shouted back.

“I gotta get to Manhattan,” she protested.

“You can’t. There’s no ferry, and the bridge is closed. There’s no way to get there.”

“Then I’ll walk across.”

“Are you crazy, lady?” he exploded. “I just told you the bridge is closed. Especially to pedestrians.” He pointed to the path that led into the howling blizzard. “You’d never get across.”

“So how much is the toll? It says a penny. I’m not paying more than a penny.”

“You ain’t paying a penny,” the policeman bawled, “because I told you three times, the bridge is closed.”

“So you say.”

“I do say. Get out of here, lady.”

“I’ll stand here as long as I like. I ain’t breaking any law.”

“Jeezus,” cried the policeman. “Freeze to death where you are, then. But you ain’t crossing this bridge.”

Five minutes later, she was still there. In exasperation, the policeman turned his back to her. He stayed that way for a minute or two. When he turned round, she’d gone, thank God. He sighed, glanced up at the bridge, and shouted with fury.

She was up there on the walkway, a couple of hundred yards already, and about to disappear into the snowstorm. How the devil did she get past the booth? He opened the door, and the freezing storm smacked him in the face. He started after her, with a volley of oaths.

And then he stopped. Any minute now, he reckoned, the wind would like as not lift her up and blow her over the railings, then either drop her onto the tracks or, better yet, deposit her in the freezing waters of the East River below. He went back into the booth. “I never saw her,” he muttered.

Let the bitch die, if that’s what she wanted.