I'm sitting 'on top of the rock'. It's cold, the sun is just setting, and I'm looking from the 70th floor of the Rockefeller center over the Skyline of Manhattan. I'm stone cold, but it's worth it.
Ernie, who works as a supervisor on this roof top, is a loud American guy that has a big smile on his face and enthusiastically tries to get everyone a picture with the Empire State Building in the background. There's no need to ask him for it, he basically just grabs the cameras of all the visitors and signals how they should pose so you'll get the best picture on your memory card. This is how it happens that me, the one always hiding when pictures are taking in order not to get on one, now have a picture of myself with the skyline of New York in the background.
A while later, after I've seen much of the amazing Manhattan skyline, and I want to sit for a bit, I find a spot against a wall. To my surprise and completely coincidentally I appear to sit in front of a vent that breathes out hot air. This warmth is very much welcome since the sun has disappeared by now, and it's even colder on this 70th floor than an hour ago.
Ernie, who has given himself the privilege of calling me 'baby', walks by a few times while I'm sitting in front of the hot air. "Just soaking it up huh?", he asks me when I'm still sitting there half an hour later. The second time he passes by he asks me "Is it cold enough for you?". The third time he passes he suddenly moves towards my sitting spot and calls out: "Wait... Is that HOT AIR coming out of that vent?!"
From that moment on Ernie decides I'm his best friend. He doesn't call me 'baby' now, but 'Rose'. "Keep my spot warm, Rose!", he yells at me every time he walks away from 'our' spot so he can give more visitors the joy of having a picture of them with the Manhattan skyline in the background.
But every time he comes back, sits next to me, and we stare at the city. The lights. The bridges. "Never even knew I had a warm spot here...", he sighs quietly.
I'm staring at two towers, they carry lights that change colour every few minutes, very slowly, from read to pink to purple to blue. They are blue right now. Ernie tells me yesterday they were red. I literally laugh out loud, and tell him they change colour every few minutes.
Ernie's mouth drops. This is the second thing he learns from me today! "You're very smart and very observant, Rose, you’ve got the whole world at your feet and I’ll never forget you”.
And while I stare over the skyline of probably my favourite city in the world with my newest best friend I can only agree: the whole world is at my feet.
'Life is an anecdote' is my blockchain notebook with (hopefully) timeless little stories and observations from daily life. I used to write stories like these for years in Dutch, and am challenging myself to write similar short stories in English on Steemit. The first four stories were originals, the current one is a translation and update from a blog I wrote in Dutch on a Dutch weblog in 2011. It felt so timeless and I still think about Ernie that he deserves a special place on this blockchain.
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Return from Life is an anecdote | #5 to Rosanne's Web3 Blog
