Monday, June 22, 2009

MET Remixed



After meeting a girl on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum, we made our way to Central Park's Great Lawn, endangered by flying baseballs, runaway babies and business men openly stripping down to boxers. Over Merlot concealed in a cranberry juice bottle, I learned the MET is built on top of an old aqueduct, which once supplied New York with water. Now, it is filled with ancient artifacts and unopened treasures from William Randolph Hearst's San Simeon. Between sips, I recalled From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, one of the books that fueled my childhood fantasies of running away. Published in 1967, a preteen brother and sister escape the suburbs to sleep amongst Greek Statues and steal coins from the now gone MET lunchroom fountain. Uncovering my 2002 reissue for rainy reading, I was surprised by the author afterword. "The greatest adventure lies not in running away but in looking inside, and the greatest discovery is not in finding out who made a statue but in finding out what makes you."

-Royal

2 comments:

hmla2599 said...

Now that's a true throwback. And a beautiful afterword.

Anonymous said...

Oi fuck, Ja its a beauty of foreword kind of stopped in my tracks right there for moment. Honestly, Im still a little shaken and feel embarrassed for airing that out.
-N.P. Milanoff