The World's Tallest Building

CEAHORSE'S

"Hey mister, can I take a look?”
He looked back, turning away from the pay-per-use binoculars that he was using to peer down at the world below, and replied, “No, boy, you mustn’t. You’re too young to see what I see.”
This sparked the boy curiosity. He started forward while he said. “What is it, a lady undressing? I wanna see, I wanna see.”
“NO” He yelled. The boy stopped cold, scared. The man raised his hand to ward the boy off and continued softly “No, it’s not a woman unclothed that I see. But, like I said, you don’t want to know what is to been seen through these.”
“Listen mister, I paid my hard earned cash to come up to the top of the world tallest building. I came to see. I want to see. So are you gonna just let me see?”
“No without a warning.” He paused for as long as possible to collect his words, also to give the boy a chance to back out. When the boy started forward again he knew he had to go on. “Listen up carefully.” His voice seemed to change. He began to speak like a well trained presenter. His voice was deep, but loud. It exuded confidence. He spook as if he knew what he was talking about. “We stand atop the world’s tallest building. We are at the peek of mankind. When you reach this point it’s wonderful. It’s great. You stand surrounded by nothing but air, clouds, and sky. At first it’s exhilarating to peer out at the world below. To see the little things as they move about. To watch the squirm and wiggle in attempts to gain your height. To watch them climb and to see most of them fail in places where you made it, but soon that changes. Things turn as all things must. You see that toils and turmoil are what makes your own life. You see that once at the top there is no where to go but down.”
The boy was confused, he just wanted to see something and go home and he said so.
“Let me put it another way for you. Looking through these binocular is like putting a new window in a load bearing wall. It lets the light in for a while, gives you a nice view of the outside but can’t quite hold the weight anymore. It’s like removing that pillar to put in a billiard table. It’s fun until things start to seep and wilt. It’s like sticking 100 kilograms of C4 under the mansion that took you 20 years to get and letting ‘er blow.”
The boy raised one eyebrow and responded “Are you saying that thing is a gun?”
“No, it’s a trap”
“A trap, how so?”
“Weren’t you listening? When you look down you see that there is nowhere to go but down.”
“Can’t you just go to a mountain or perhaps get in a helicopter?”
“Uhh.. Ahhh..”
The man had lost it. He wasn’t sure what to say. The boy had made a good point. Yes he was in the world’s tallest building and yes it was the highest man made point from which to perch and look down. But there were other places. There were other wonders that he had yet to achieve. He stepped to the side giving the boy access and walked to the elevator.

LION'S

It took them three years and five days to build it – the tallest building in the world. I’ve seen it in the skyline, on the bus to my grandma’s, but I never been to it, never looked at it up close. So, I decided today was my day. I was going.
Off the metro and up to ground level, I walked through the tsunami of construction and modern shopping towards the epicenter. Dodging bobcats, and fur coats, walking under scaffolding and on catwalks, browsing vender’s knockoff Louis Vinton bags and windows displaying genuine product, watching performers and spectators I found myself, at the quiet center of it all, to be a spectator looking up.
If I took a match out of my pocket and held it between my fingers I think I might have to be a mile away to align the two side-by-side: top with top, and bottom with bottom. Here, I can’t even get the whole thing in perspective. That’s how it is I guess. From far, on the bus, it didn’t seem that big, just a pillar taller than the others around it. Here at the bottom, looking up, I can’t see the ground and the top at the same time. I wonder if the people at the top could see me, or if I would melt into the inanimate objects around me?
Looking up, I have to take a breath.
It’s a wonder the things man can make. Things so big you can’t see them whole at the same time. I thought about going up. I thought maybe I might possibly run into that little man that everyone imagines, the guy that sits at the top, like a brain connected to only its body, surveying the view that elapses everything below. I thought about going up but didn’t.I heard a cello a ways off and walked over to listen, gave the girl some change and headed home.

The seeds

I remember the day, well kinda. I can’t tell you about the weather, or anything particular to that day. Nothing except perhaps for what I found. I was walking down the road. Which road? I dunna… it’s not important. So here I am walking when I feel my toe push something. I look down to see I am standing on the corner of a small leather sack. It’s brown and looks ordinary, well as ordinary as any small leather bag lying in the road. I stoop down and grab it up. There’s a draw string, with a small knot tied in it. I remember struggling with the knot. I can clearly see myself putting it to my teeth and pulling at the knot. I did get it open and inside I found something peculiar. Inside there was a small piece of paper cleverly folded to conceal a few small round objects. There didn’t seem to be any seams or creases. I fumbled it around in my hand a few times, tossing it and flipping it. Then I saw it. There was a tiny fold in one of the corners. I pulled at it and it instantly unfolded into a bowl shape, containing two small seeds. Under the seeds were the words, “Plant and Eat one. What was will no longer be and what will, will be” I crumbled the paper and put it in my pocket. I soon found myself in the park. I can’t remember why I was going there, but I remember being there. I was sitting on the grass. I was admiring the green from atop a small knoll. I found myself thinking that the very spot where I sat would be a great place for that picturesque singular tree. I pulled the paper out of my pocket and peered at the two small pea like seeds. “What the heck?” I told myself as I ripped up a piece of the sod, dug a small hole and tossed one in. I covered it back with the dirt and sent the chunk flying down the hill. I still had one seed left so, remembering the note, I tossed it into my mouth. I don’t think I chewed it, but I know I swallowed it. I remember saying, “Well that’s nothing” before I laid back to look at the clouds. There was a rabbit cloud, a snake cloud, and an elephant cloud. Then I dozed off. I’m not sure how long I slept, but when I awoke it was still daylight and the seed I had planted had grown into a huge bean stalk. It stretched far beyond my sight, way up into the clouds. There were many places to grab, so I did what any person, Jack included, would do. I climbed it. I climbed for what seemed to be hours, but I never looked back. I found myself at the end. There was nothing, just some clouds. I always wondered, so I reached out to see, and found that the clouds were hard. They were even hard enough to step on, which I found but testing it first hand. I sat down on the cloud and looked around. There didn’t seem to be much up here, so I waited. Soon enough I saw a cloud coming along, there was something on it. As it got closer, I began to make out what it was, it was so cute. It was a giant pink rabbit. It was bouncing around on its cloud. Soon it was close enough and it bounded onto my cloud and bounced all around me. “Stop please!” I told it, and surprisingly it stopped and looked at me. I crawled over to it, and landed a kiss on its, ear. After the kiss is bounced away back onto it’s own cloud and soon faded into the distance. It wasn’t long before the next cloud came. It came bearing a snake. This snake wasn’t dangerous and evil looking. Rather gentle and playful. It slithered around and soon enough I found myself kissing the snake before it too faded into the horizon. Then the last one came, it was a huge elephant. It was so big that it didn’t have space enough to even move. I drifted up to me in a spinning motion. I was only able to kiss it’s bum, but kiss it’s bum I did. But the elephant was different. They say elephants can remember everything, but it seems that they can talk too, for this elephant spoke, but what he had to say wasn’t cute or playful at all. He spoke in a deep serious voice. “This is not a dream, and you’re never going to wake up” I looked back to the bean stalk it was gone, and I was here to stay.

Painting

Here is a picture painted by Ceahorse's wife. Ceahorse and Lion will write a story about it and bring them to you..

The Woodpecker

I gotz a story for yah.

It all happened 2 days afore. I was woken by a bang on me wall. The sound of a tap, tap, tap….. tap, tap, tap. I didn’t know whats to think of it. So outta me bed I gots an go down stairs to take me a looks. Da tapping didn’t stop, and it was starten to hurt me head, I just waken up an all. Outside I went, down off me stoop and tooks me a look at me wall. Low and behold, dare it was, on me wall. A woodpeeker, up dare on me wall. He was’a taping and taping a’trying ta gets in me home.
Now seeing how I gots me a pretty big house, having 2 stories and all, and seeing it's just me liv’in in dar, I probably have da space for a wee pecker to live wit me. But the pecking is whats I couldn’t live wit.
So I decided I’d gotta get dat dare peeker to stop dat pecking and get him off me wall. Odderwise, I soon be having a big hole in me wall, and living with the pecker would be nading compares to the water dat would be sure to move it's self in come next rain fall.
I yelled up at him. “Shoo, you little hellion, Shoo Shoo”
The taping he a stopped, yes he did. Looks right at me is what he did. Den he turned back to me wall and pecked it again.
Boy dat did gone and made me blood dam near boil.
“Gwaah.. Gwaah.” I yelled up dar ats him.
This time he didn’t even stop ta take him a look.
So next I thought about what I could do. Climbing up da wall aint nothing I can do. As for me ladder, I dam did lent it to Billy-Joe and he live way on di other side of da county.
Den it hit me. Me shotgun. I could goes and get me shotgun and put dat pecker down. Once and fer all.
So back up da stoop, in me house I go and over into me common room. Dare was me shotgun sitting wheres I had left him. Up dar on me rifle rack. Take it's I did, down off da rack. It was an awful dusty, so wipe it off I did.
I hadn’t taken him down since 2 year past, when me and Bobby-joe had gone dar duck a’huntin
Looks in it I did for me bullets and there they are, gone. So I thinks ta myself, where dem bullets might be. Den it dawn on’a me. Dem gotta be in da drawer, da rifle rack drawer. Yup day was dare.
Load em up I did. And as I walking back out, I thinks to myself that maybe I need not kill he little feller. After all he be just a wee bird. Den da tapping come back.
I didn’t notice dat when I was a loading me shotgun, he had stopped his tapping. Something alike maybe he could see me er something er other.
A storming I goes back out me door, a down me stoop and round da corner ov’a me home. Still up dare he a’is.
Cock me gun, I’s do. Aim it up at him. Put me finger to ta trigger. He had his chance twice over. Pull it a do.
Booom. I’s hear da echo, hellz Bobby-Joe dam could here dat bang. Looks up I do and dat dam pecker it ok. I a missed him by more dem ones me foots.
He a flying away dou, which be what I wanted afta all. Happy I was till I take me a look up, ta see what kinda damage he’d gone and done to me wood panels.
Dare be a hole bigger den da dam pecker right dar beside where he been a working.
Fool I be to think shooting dat pecker be a good idea.

“Fool you be? Fool is right, Latrell. What the fuck are you talking about. This is New York city…Dam…There aint no wood houses here, and there sure as hell aint no fucking woodpeckers.Your one crazy ass motherfucker man. Why you spillin that chit on me, Foo?”

“Don’t you see it, Jamal?”

“Only things I sees is a crazy ass fucker sitting beside me on this subway and that’s you Latrell.”

“Ah man, just forget it then. That shit is too deep for your low level ass”