5 o'clock on Sunday. The Guggenheim. 88th and Fifth Avenue. The sun is going down, snow is on the streets and on the trees in Central Park. There is an eery and beautiful orange-gray twilight.
Inside the Guggenheim, people are walking around in their winter jackets and colorful scarves. People are smiling and laughing. Ha! Isn't life wonderful! Yes, it's said as a declaration, not as a question. But perhaps it should have been asked, and the answer is indubitably NO, life is not wonderful.
Would you like evidence that life is not wonderful? The Guggenheim. 88 and 5th. The lobby. People are smiling and laughing, but before their eyes lies a horrible sight, indeed.
Yes. I don't know what else proves life's inherent awfulness. The sight of that funny little friend floating in the water will never leave me. Never.