Floor 86, Empire State Building, 350 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York.
A famous photographer accidentally took our picture on the observation deck as he
Captured all the glory of the Empire State on a sunny July day. Two other significant
Events happened that day—July 14, 1988:
Mike Schmidt passes Mickey Mantle with his 537th HR into 7th place
WYHY radio offers $1M to anyone who can prove Elvis is still alive
We had the ballgame playing on a radio in the background and a cold shower running though we
Were so sticky the breeze already felt cold on our skin. Broad daylight and no one was out as if
Even New York was taking a siesta hiding from that unbearable ball of fire turning the sky green.
Even though we’re nothing but nude smudges in the photograph, we ran across the poster version on the street with the tiny date scribbled in the corner. Was that the day Mike Schmidt beat out Mickey Mantle, we ask? I’m an artist, not a sports columnist.
I bought it, and a tiny vintage print of Marilyn Monroe.
We reenacted Some Like It Hot too because the temperature made the title so fitting.
July 15, 1992 I’m baking bread and Pope John Paul II is hospitalized for 3 weeks to have tumor removed. A postcard from Lost Springs, Wyoming: Still have a wall to rival China’s? I saw it from the moon and it’s still not quite as deep as I remember yours being.
He told me, I’m different from other guys. I hope I’m not just another notch on your bedpost.
Then what exactly did you want to be?
I don’t know. I’m good at asking the questions, not answering them.
You’re just another guy. You haven’t proven you’re different.
I just want to make sure you’re ok; I don’t want to hurt you.
You couldn’t.
99 degrees, July 14, 1988 and we were 86 floors closer to the sun than the rest of the world.
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