#83—View from the Top
CHARACTERS
Two people sitting on a park bench:
ONE and
TWO
ONE
So. I’m supposed to write an article about “The view from the top,” and I don’t have the faintest idea how to begin. The top of what? A tree? What’s the highest thing you’ve ever been on?
TWO
Easy. An airplane?
ONE
Nah. Airplanes don’t count. That’s a view from above, not the top.
TWO
Okay. Definitely not a tree. I’ve never been in the top of a tree, and I don’t ever want to be, either. A mountain, I guess. Maybe a sky scraper?
ONE
Oh yeah, a skyscraper. I hadn’t thought of that. I once had a piece of German chocolate cake in that restaurant on the top of the old World Trade Center. And then I went out and looked at the view, and got really nauseous. I don’t think I barfed, but I might have.
TWO
Wow. The World Trade Center. I never made it to that one. Why did you get nauseous?
ONE
I don’t know. Vertigo, maybe. Maybe because it was windy and they say those tall buildings sway? Maybe it was just the cake. It was a huge piece and really rich. But this isn’t getting me anywhere.
TWO
Sure it is. You saw a view up there.
ONE
Yeah, I must have. But I don’t remember it. Have you ever been in a tall building?
TWO
Yeah. Empire State when I was a kid, but I don’t remember that. But I do remember the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw.
ONE
Never heard of it. What were you doing there?
TWO
Visiting my aunt.
ONE
I didn’t know you had an aunt in Warsaw.
TWO
Yeah. Well, neither did I till a few years ago. Anyhow, that’s a long story. The point is, the Palace is this gigantic building that the Soviets built back in the 50’s. It’s really tall, I think one of the tallest buildings in Europe. And like I say, gigantic. Anyhow, My aunt took me there, and we went to the top.
ONE
Good view?
TWO
Well, that was the funny thing. I only know things like “please” and “thank you” and “good morning” in Polish. My aunt speaks English, but, you know, with a heavy accent. And she gets stuff wrong. So she said, “Good view but not today because of frog,” And of course she meant fog. When I told her, she laughed, and then she said that instead of saying “please,” I’d been saying “little pig.”
ONE
That’s a good story, but it doesn’t help much.
TWO
Well, maybe the point could be that there isn’t a view. No matter how high you get. There just isn’t one. Because you’ve had too much cake, or because of the frog.
ONE
Yeah, I suppose. I guess I just have to keep thinking.
GladErrand 
😁
Based on real stuff–I’m the one who had the cake in the World Trade Center, and it was my cousin who said “frog” instead of “fog” in Warsaw! Oh, and John’s the one who was saying “little pig.”