Sirio Maccione

The owner of Le Cirque, Sirio Maccione, appeared at the end of our meal at Le Cirque -- to bid us a good evening. Everything about the meal -- the food, the service, the atmosphere, the suspension of time -- was a perfection bordering on the magical, and this unexpected appearance of Maccioni was just the final surprise.

We still talk about that night. The waiters seemed to materialize out of the air, providing for our wants and needs without our having to speak them aloud. When I wrote an article about the experience -- and forwarded a copy to Le Cirque -- Maccione wrote me back and invited me to attend his "circus" again. Many years later, I did just that.

I have never been and will never be rich, but I felt perfectly comfortable dining amid the Manhattan billionaires and their trophy wives, who spoke with us casually, jokingly, letting us into their world. I hesitate to imagine aspiring or becoming accustomed to such a life; some part of me has resisted even middle-class comforts and complacency. But, for a night or two, now and then, it can be an enlightenment.

Here is the caveat. I don't think I would have enjoyed the meal, the wine, and the evening in the same way -- that soaring feeling of unearned privilege -- if I had paid for the meal. I am not driven by money and I make no apologies for this, but I do know how to appreciate.

I have not strayed far from the Abbie Hoffman taunt that everything should be free. And what did Patti Smith mean when she sang about "Free Money"?

Consider the lilies.