A cabby behind him lays on his horn, infuriating the trucker who leaps from his vehicle and begins screaming at the bearded cabby with a black towel around his head.

The expletives roar back and forth and the trucker tells the cabby to pull over so they can solve the situation physically. But the cabby drives away. The trucker appears to be moments from a stroke.

We have already eaten breakfast and are killing time until Will and Kim arrive. Walking a short way up Lexington Avenue, Tara is attracted to a funky little shop filled with NY paraphernalia. After waiting for my wife for awhile, I tell her I will see her back at the hotel when she is done shopping. Soon after, she rushes back into our room, grabs some money and one of her CDs and says, “I’ll be right back.”

I soon learn that when she went to pay for the items she was purchasing, she was 57 cents short. “I told the shop guy I would go get the money and be right back. But he took 57 cents out of his own pocket to cover the purchase.”

Listening, I shrug my shoulders.

“I couldn’t have that, so I returned for the money, gave it to him and gave him one of my CDs as a thank you. He was so appreciative, like no one has ever given him anything. He immediately played it on the store sound system. I told him it was meditation ... hypnosis. But when I left the store it was playing ... “

“Putting all the customers into trance?” I said.

Tara nodded and laughed. Kim and Will had met her coming out of the elevator, accompanied her to the store, and were laughing as well. Kim has the day off to spend with us.

This morning we visit the Guggenheim Museum, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The design of the building is more exciting than the three shows presently on display, but we spend several hours of enjoyable viewing. Before leaving, I purchase a T-shirt. Museum T-shirts are my favorites, and the Guggenheim is as good as such shirts get. Outside, Tara purchases some funny miniature art from a street vendor.

We cab to SoHo, have lunch in a kicky Brazilian restaurant. Next on our agenda, Will and Kim lead us through a maze of back streets to their friend’s jewelry-design shop and manufacturing studio. Lazaro is a well-known designer whose creations have graced the cover of “Vogue.” Brad, his partner, handles the business. We all enjoy lengthy conversations. The guys cannot believe that Tara is Will’s mother.

Lazaro is helping a customer pick out a piece of bold silver jewelry. Brad tells me, “The guy lives in an apartment below David Bowie and it is filled with originals by artists such as Andy Warhol.”

The subject of the Republican Convention comes up and everyone is fearful. Lazaro and Brad don’t know if they should board up the windows and leave town, or buy a gun and remain.

Across the street is “TOYS in Babeland,” a high-end erotica shop offering colorful hand-blown glass dildoes at $78 to $100, in addition to a huge selection of erotic toys and bondage gear. Tara and Kim laugh so loud everyone in the store is intrigued by what they are looking at. A giveaway publication shows a beautiful woman in black with her hands bound. The cover blurb reads, “Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History.”

We have tea in a funky bakery/restaurant around the corner, before making our way back to midtown. Tara and I exit the subway at 49th, while Will and Kim travel on to Queens. We wander through Rockefeller Center, enjoy the atmosphere and take a few pictures. The Olympics is playing in our hotel bar, so we end the day sipping wine and cheering the US woman’s volleyball team for winning the Gold.

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