Myth Busted

I felt like a criminal, tooling along on the NYS Throughway, as if all eyes were on me and recognizing me for the lawbreaker I was. I'd been to a staff meeting at Herkimer BOCES and was driving home late in the day by myself. Usually a friend and co-worker rode shotgun, and since she is OCD, she is very conscientious about directions, and I came to depend on her. I always drove, and she gave directions. Sometimes the directions she gave were very obvious , but I didn't care. I like somebody to tell me where to turn, and which lane to be in, etc. (kind of like an early GPS, but they can go crazy at times,) But now I was alone and determined to be in the proper lane in order for me to be sure I was heading home. I knew I needed to stay to the right, and the entry ramp in Herkimer is or was or was about 10 years ago, toward the left and in a rather rural, remote, and even deserted-looking area. Or so it seemed at the time. Anyway, I stayed right, the toll booth was toward the left, and I missed it. I didn't see anyone in it either, but I suppose I could have overlooked someone slumped in the booth, not much business at the time.
So I'm on the Throughway, with no ticket, and feeling as if my car has a flashing sign on it, identifying me as an illegal trespasser. I envied all the cars whose drivers were smart enough to have taken a ticket. A few troopers passed me and I felt like they must know I was ticketless. After the first half hour or so, I started thinking how I was going to get off the Throughway. (This was beforre EZ Pass,or at least well before we had it.) If I said I hadn't seen anyone in the toll booth, and thought there might be another booth a little farther down the ramp (which was true), and hadn't wanted to go to the left instead of right (which was also true), the attendant would probably think I was nuts and unfit to be driving. I thought about saying that my ticket had blown out the window (which was not true, but seemed more believable). Unless, I worried, they could check and know it was a lie. I remembered people saying that if you did not have your ticket, you would be charged for the entire length of the Throughway, and I hoped they would take a credit card.
I decided to get off the Amsterdam exit instead of at Albany because I figured it would be less busy, and I didn't want to tie up traffic on top of everything else. Still not sure of what my story was going to be, I pulled up to the window of the booth. I said "I don't have a ticket." He, a young man, asked "Where did you get on?" I said Exit 34. He said $2.40, and I paid him. The end.