How would God respond to making a mistake? Would planets collide or mountains slide into the sea? Or would the ledger of all life simply remain out kilter until a series of small events forced that ledger back into balance again? It's probably the l...
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August 13, 7:01AM
the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge
Buddy, I think everyone should do at least one foolish or stupid thing every day of their lives. On some days, that may be the only way to remind us that we used to be human. I wish I had thought of this a long time ago.
Anyway, today I'm on a quest to see a black squirrel. Lots of them if possible. I don't know if you've ever seen one, Buddy. (And honestly, how would I?) But I know I've never seen one. And up until last night, I didn't even know they existed. Yesterday's paper had a picture of several black squirrels feeding from an older woman's hand. Since I have a half day to waste in New York before watching my next game, I decided to track them down. Originally, I thought about walking the length of Manhattan from 1st Street up to 220th Street but the squirrels seemed more interesting.
I've lived lots of places, Buddy, and the squirrels have been gray everywhere I've ever lived. So, it just seemed logical to assume that all squirrels are gray. But not these squirrels. They were clearly black and now I'm headed out to look for them. I just wish the newspaper caption had been a bit more helpful. It just said, "Black squirrels in park on lower east side of Manhattan."
So, here it is. My one stupid thing for the day. I might find the squirrels in 10 minutes or 10 hours. Who knows? But I'm determined to see them.
I parked my car in Queens last night and I started walking toward Manhattan just before sunrise. Today is one of those days where the sky seems like it's going to crack open at any moment and let all the moisture pour out like a water balloon smashing against a wall. The air is so humid that clothes stick to your skin as soon as you put them on and the morning fog takes forever to burn off.
Before starting my quest, I'll sit here for a few minutes and admire the 59th Street Bridge. Then, I'll begin my search. If I get lost along the way, I figure I can just follow the trail of sweat back to my car.
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It may not seem so, Buddy, but it's much easier to drive 500 miles in a day than it is to walk around trying to find a place you don't know. In the last 3 hours, I must have covered every street and crossed every corner in this part of the city. When I got to the corner of 1st Avenue and 1st Street, it felt like the gods were telling me that I had to start over. It was 1st and 1st after all, so it had to be some kind of message. But I was too sweaty and tired and didn't want to go anywhere anymore.
The weird thing about this spot is that it should be the center of the universe or maybe just the beginning of the city, but it isn't. Below here, there are streets with letters and other streets with names. It's like the people who made the first maps of New York just got tired of using numbers. Now, you're left to wonder why this corner got to be the starting place.
If you ever come here, Buddy, you'll see right away that whoever named these streets should have picked a better corner to mark the beginning of the city. They should have picked a corner where something notable happened. Or at the very least, there should be a bridge here or a river or a lake. But there's nothing. Nothing worth seeing. There's just a diner on one corner. And on the other corners, you'll find a parking lot, an empty building, and an abandoned lot that's full of junk.
