Fifth Avenue at 18th: The Jerk

Observations of the office cats Mies and Marcel...

Scene opens on casual and sunny office environement.
A cardboard box under the shadow of a desk is seen at stage left. A steel door to the hall is partially ajar at the rear center stage. A bank of windows with sun streaming in is at stage right. Center stage is open with a large square of sunlight brightly illuminating the office.

Mies is a bundle of fur sleeping in the small cardboard box under the desk. The box is barely able to contain his girth. It is obvious Mies had been there for hours and is quite comfortable.

Marcel enters through the office door and casually circles the office. He soon notices Mies in the box and approaches him with slow but intentional steps. Upon reaching the box, Marcel sits a few inches away and stares at Mies. They stare at each other for about a minute.

Suddenly, Marcel jumps on Mies. The office remains silent even though this animated tussle occurs in the shadows of the desk. Mies relinquishes his position in the box and Marcel gets in the box and bundles up.

Mies walks to center stage to the area of the floor lit by the afternoon sun and sits to absorb the warmth. Scratching sounds are heard in the shadows as Marcel tears away at the box. After a minute of this, the scratching stops and Marcel gets out of the box. With the same slow and intentional steps, he approaches Mies sitting in the sun and sits inches away from him. Mies turns his head to stare at Marcel. The stare continues for about a minute.

Marcel jumps Mies yet again. Mies is annoyed but again relinquishes his position in the sun. Marcel takes his spot sitting in the sunlight. Mies trudges to the office door, his back to the audience and sits staring at the door.

After a minute in the sun, Marcel slowly and intentionally walks up to Mies and sits directly in front of him so that he completely blocks his view of the door and is forced to stare at Marcel's face only inches away. After staring at each other for ten seconds, Mies looks away and gets up. Marcel's eyes remain locked on Mies as he walks out the open office door. Upon Mies' exit, Marcel turns to gaze at the audience.

End scene.

E90 and Lexington: The Boy

I typically dress down on days I need to be at construction sites. I mean, it's not like I look slovenly but it's my "clean and casual" day.

Anyways, I arranged to meet a friend for lunch at her apartment after visiting one of my construction sites. She was still making her way back to her apartment so I took the time to go to the grocery store and pick up a few small things to supplement our lunch. Laden with a few plastic grocery bags full of food, I walk into the lobby of her building to the man behind the desk to announce myself.

"I'm here to see Jane in apartment 555. She's expecting me."
The man at the front desk looks up, gives me a quick once over and says, "The service entrance is around the corner."

"I'm her friend...She's expecting me," I respond in an annoyed and staccato tone.

The man was apologetic and immediately phoned Jane's apartment. She hadn't arrived yet so he invited me to sit down in the reception area. I was keen on sitting in an area where I could see him directly and where all the residents coming in had a clear view of the casually dressed ethnic guy with the grocery bags who obviously looks like a delivery boy sitting on their plush velvet couch in the lobby.