John and David jump out of the cab in front of the World Trade Center. It is a massive complex that takes up so much of Lower Manhattan and seems to take pride in separating itself from the artsy Greenwich Village. This area means business and power.
John looks up.
'Boy are they tall.'
David
'Observant are your eyes...yes.'
John
'Are you going to keep talking like a Yoda-wanna be all day.'
They walk across the broad plaza to the North Tower.
Dave
'Look I not green enough for you to be Yoda? Actually you don't look so good buddy.'
John
'I'm afraid of heights...starting at 6 feet or so.'
Dave
'Well, Windows on the World is on the 106th and 107th floor. But we'll be inside dude. Not like you have to clean the windows.'
John looks up and bends his knees a bit with the thought of having to clean those windows.
They walk through a massive lobby to a massive guard desk. More people work in the World Trade Center than in John's entire town.
They go into the elevadors.
John
'I want to try to enjoy this. See David, this is why I can't hate Bernie. I would never have seen this without him. I'm just going to focus on how he treats me.'
David
'Sounds moral...or not at all. Try not to think about the height. Just focus on charming...put on your PR Event face.'
Just then a man and his son jump into the elevador. As the elevador shoots upward, the man talks to his son.
Man
'You know how elevadors have a big old steel cable holding them up?'
Son
'Yeah, like real thick and big you said so it could never fall right.'
Man
'Well, yeah. But know how windy it is today. These building are soooo big and tall...they have to be able to sway in the breeze. So these elevadors sit on four wheels that grab the sides of the elevador shaft like...ahhh don't let me fall. No cable.'
David is looking at John's scared face and trying not to burst out laughing.
Finally, the doors open and John has worked himself up the point where he can hardly walk out of the elevador.
The bar area extends along the south side of the World Trade tower. John really feels like he is at the edge of America as he looks at the sunset over Jersey, toy boats in the harbor and tiny Statue of Liberty. He thinks of all the adults in his family who sacrificed so he could have the opportunity to experience something like this.
David
'I'm not going to get political but it makes me furious when I think of people we let into this country...who tried to knock these down with a truck bomb.'
John
'Yeah, look David...Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.'
David points to the bar.
'The media people are over there.'
They move closer to the crowd and David hears a conversation he's interested in. John follows.
One woman is talking, the rest seem some-what interested.
Woman
'I said his name is Ahmed Ressam...the millennium bomber, who was caught trying to enter Seattle on a fairy from Vancouver. You know...he was pleading asslym in Canada and while they were deciding he got trained by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan on bombing. He sneaked back into Canada. Then the Mounties were trying to find him but he had changed his name and moved to Vancouver from Montreal. It was dumb luck our border security guard caught him...with 4 times the explosives of the usual car bomb...whatever that is. He was headed for LAX. Anyway, my contact in the Justice Department said he's gonna be sentenced this month.'
John
'Al Qaeda?'
David
'They're the people fighting the people who've rented the office on the floor below ours...the Northern Alliance. Tell me you didn't notice all the secret service guys in our lobby.'
John
'I didn't...'
David
'He daydreams a lot. John's in his own world. But that's o.k....he's a writer. I'm an artist. I have to make the ideas work.'
Woman
'Nice to meet you both. They don't quit. Remember they tried to blow this place up...they don't quit.'
John
'What's the point of having an FBI and CIA? Can seeing people as a 'they' lead to a 'those' people approach to the world...'cause I wasn't raised that way...I mean I tend to see people as individuals and like hearing different beliefs...'
Woman
'They use our laws and rights to play us...especially liberals with your way of thinking John...that's what I think. They play us.'
David
'You don't want to know what I think.'
John
'I think we have to track radicals better...but if we let them change our laws or...not let immigrants in or something...they win.'
David
'He loves everyone. I try to teach him. Don't know what he needs...I need another drink somebody...'
John
'There are benefits to respecting people...the Muslim store owner two doors down from where we work charges me 25 cents for gum 'cause I showed him respect. What does he charge you David?'
David
'Last time I go there for gum.'
Media people laugh.
John
'I mean, you get respect back. David trys to act all tough or conservative or whatever. But he's the one with the moral outrage over things in the Advertising biz.'
David rolls his eyes.
John
'Oh fine. When I get the chance I'll look up Al Qaeda? before they catch them all...so I can be all kinds of worldly like you.'
David
'Baby steps Johnny. Baby steps.'
The media people laugh.
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