Remodelling the city
Events beyond Mr. Pong’s control.
A civilised city needs more than a Kyrgyz fried chicken stand
— A civilised city will need a bakery, a grocery store, a bank, a library… and of course; a doughnut stand.
Mr. Pong has no problem appreciating this.
In fact he welcomes it, for sure.
But sitting behind his desk in the old Pognor Factory administration building, he can not understand how all of this have so suddenly appeared outside his window.
This wasn’t here yesterday. Have my city been secretly transformed over night? he wonders, or is someone playing a trick on me?
And where is this pond coming from? Did it rain during the night? , Mr Pong asks himself.
Being unable to answer these essential questions, he decides to conduct an on-site visual inspection.
This leads him to the Plaza Mañana — a place where he has never before set foot.
So, it's really real, he thinks...
... but maybe you don't need to be real to think really real thoughts, he adds a bit later.
Even later he renounces these last thoughts althogether, thinking that "really real" is a really, really stupid phrase.
Plaza Mañana.
What a strange name for a plaza, but on the other hand; it's even stranger that it actually exists.
A construction site. A new building being raised.
Mr. Pong asks himself:
And who, might I ask, have authorised this?
At this point, in lack of an answer, Mr. Pong has this moment when it occurs to him that there's a certain possibility he is no longer in control.
Someone might call this a turning point.
He smiles: Oh my God, I can't feel my legs...
Let's have some wine
Some people... some people think doughnuts come from America. Not true! Doughnuts came to America with people who weren’t Americans when they came to America.
Doughnuts should really be called New Doughnuts, like New York and New Amsterdam — and the Americans, even if they call themselves Americans, they are really
from North America, a fenced in area, like North Korea!
The evening has become chilly.
Mr Pong decides to go back to his office.
Later he thinks: I’m glad I never made it to North America. I would not have liked to be called Mr. New Pong.
Afterwards he thinks about what he would have been called had he landed in North Korea, and subsequently in France.
__________
Mr Pong is sitting behind his desk at his old office.
He picks up a hard covered book written by Cilly LaVache, a book he was recommended to read by the nice woman behind the counter at the newly appeared City Library.
Mr. Pong prefers paperbacks, but he has decided to make an exception.
Before reading, he opens a bottle of his favourite wine, a vintage Tignanello 2010.
He is thinking that some people — some people don’t drink Tignanello, because it lacks the proper classification.
Mr Pong feels sorry for these people.
I feel sorry for them, he thinks.
Then he starts reading the chapter about the Plaza Mañana.
And the M/S München is staring at him from the wall.
The bottle is empty.
— Somebody has tampered with my city map, he says.
___________
Cec
.
