[for years, it was quiet.]
ELM: Why did you come here?
CAR PARK: Come where?
ELM: This meadow. It used to be empty. I used to be here alone, and then they built you.
CAR PARK: I am here for the humans. They need me. They built me for a university. I am a part of something. Are you?
ELM: You are.
CAR PARK: Isn’t that nice? To be a part of something? I was made with a purpose. I know what I need to do here. Isn’t it wonderful, knowing you mean something to someone?
ELM: I wouldn’t know. I was not made to be a part of something. I came from nothing and now I am part of the Everything. I may not have as much meaning as you, but I bet I know more secrets.
CAR PARK: Like what? I know where everyone goes. I know when they come home.
ELM: But you don’t know why. I know why the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, why the squirrels don’t store their food beneath me anymore.
CAR PARK: Tell me, please.
ELM: Perhaps you’ll know, once I am dead.
CAR PARK: When will that be?
ELM: Soon, I think. The school is growing. They’ll need more cars, and less of me.
CAR PARK: That’s horrible.
ELM: It will be, but only for a while.
CAR PARK: Well, you know, when you fall, I’ll be there to hear you. I will listen to the wind for you when you are in the ground.
ELM: I know you will.
CAR PARK: I will be the one who mourns you.
ELM: That’s the thing, though. Knowing someone will miss me when I’m dead — I don’t think it’ll make leaving hurt much less.
[they watch the afternoon sky turn black with smoke. tomorrow, snow will fall.]
[for years, it was quiet.]
ELM: Why did you come here?
CAR PARK: Come where?
ELM: This meadow. It used to be empty. I used to be here alone, and then they built you.
CAR PARK: I am here for the humans. They need me. They built me for a university. I am a part of something. Are you?
ELM: You are.
CAR PARK: Isn’t that nice? To be a part of something? I was made with a purpose. I know what I need to do here. Isn’t it wonderful, knowing you mean something to someone?
ELM: I wouldn’t know. I was not made to be a part of something. I came from nothing and now I am part of the Everything. I may not have as much meaning as you, but I bet I know more secrets.
CAR PARK: Like what? I know where everyone goes. I know when they come home.
ELM: But you don’t know why. I know why the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, why the squirrels don’t store their food beneath me anymore.
CAR PARK: Tell me, please.
ELM: Perhaps you’ll know, once I am dead.
CAR PARK: When will that be?
ELM: Soon, I think. The school is growing. They’ll need more cars, and less of me.
CAR PARK: That’s horrible.
ELM: It will be, but only for a while.
CAR PARK: Well, you know, when you fall, I’ll be there to hear you. I will listen to the wind for you when you are in the ground.
ELM: I know you will.
CAR PARK: I will be the one who mourns you.
ELM: That’s the thing, though. Knowing someone will miss me when I’m dead — I don’t think it’ll make leaving hurt much less.
[they watch the afternoon sky turn black with smoke. tomorrow, snow will fall.]
Mia Vittimberga, ’26