An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski

Full Title: An Invisible Thread: the true story of an 11-year-old panhandler, a busy sales executive, and an unlikely meeting with destiny by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski.

Those living and working In Manhattan, the core of New York, find people begging for money, “panhandlers”, as incessant and irksome as nuisance calls, traffic tie-ups, and electrical outages. Thus, when 36-year-old corporate sales representative Laura Schroff was approached by a pre-teen boy asking her for “spare change”, she walked passed him as she would any similar irritant. Still, after strolling a few blocks away, some inner strand of connection impelled her to turn back to that corner where the boy had made his request.  She waited a moment; the boy had walked on.  Then, he returned to their meeting-point.  

Ms. Schroff believes, as do many of us, myself included, pivotal meetings occur when the lives of both participants are meant to interweave in some definitive way. This link proved true in the interaction between Laura Schroff and the boy she would later come to know as Maurice Mazyck.  While eager to help the boy, Laura Schroff needed to ensure whatever contribution she made would not be spent on illegal substances.  Thus, she offered to treat him to lunch at the place of his choice- McDonald’s.  

While far from the optimal source of nutrition, the boy’s gorging of its instantaneous, fast, deep-fried food, followed by a desperate request for seconds, confirmed what Laura had already surmised. This boy was a malnourished child, not a conniving hustler. Through time, and various vicissitudes, the friendship between Laura and Maurice evolved.  Despite their apparent differences, Laura soon came to realize the similarities in their backgrounds.

Maurice’s father had left the family when Maurice, a young child, still viewed him as the icon of power and strength he appeared to be.  Laura’s dad, though continuing to provide some financial support, was emotionally absent, due to his drunken brutalities.  An especially horrific rage resulted in his smashing, deliberately, one after another, each of her brother’s hard-won sports trophies.  The aspiring athlete watched, transfixed, while the symbols of his triumphs were erased by this savagery, his hopes for the future wrecked, never to be reborn or resurrected.  

As Laura and Maurice’s friendship progressed, she allowed him to stay by himself in her apartment on some afternoons, while she was at work.  This meant , for the first time, Maurice could watch TV, read a book, take a nap, have a sandwich, or do whatever he chose, with no adult to instill guilt.  Yet, Laura set boundaries early on. She pledged to Maurice she would tell him just once, the slightest violation of trust would put an immediate end to their friendship.  
This trust, never offered before by anyone, seems to have change Maurice’s priorities from the basic wish to acquire whatever he could by whatever means, to a desire to respect the trust which Laura bestowed upon him.
  
The tie between Laura and Maurice went through difficult times. Marriages on both sides changed the nature of their connection. Still, with bouts of silence created by Maurice’s tendency to drop out of touch, their bond did not end.  His silence was motivated by the fear his mistakes might impel Laura to abandon and spurn him. Still, their friendship continues.  As decades pass, age differences between generations tend to diminish, often to the point of insignificance.  Hence, Laura and Maurice share an ongoing bond with each other’s families.  Their friendship has given both of them strength to overcome the ongoing challenges of every life, with the acceptance of risk and renewal.  Without this openness, given appropriate safeguards, life can lose its adventure in living.