[ WP ] A lifetime to build , yet a moment to destroy it all .

At last, it was complete. 
 
 The painstaking work, the attention to detail... While not a lifetime, way way too much time had been spent on this project of mine. The city of New York, in glorious detail. Thousands of tiny little trees, gallons of latex paint, millions of toothpicks, buckets of glue and newspaper for the papier-mâché. 
 
 And the lights! I lost count a long time ago. The streetlights, the building lights, and all timed for the correct time of day and everything. It was a beautiful sight to see it at night. Businesses would go on and off, home windows would illuminate and then be turned off as the imaginary residents went about their day/night cycle. 
 
 I even put in a few lines of magnetic track to allow the buses, cars, carriages, and even those courier bikes to run about. It was a little much to ask that people move around, so I just put them about in static positions. There's a Waldo in there somewhere, and a Santa, and of course, the entertainer denizens who populated times square, all littered about the place as needed. 
 
 There was even working water. Oh, not for plumbing or sewers, but any fountains? Yep. Ponds, running water? Yep, everything worked. The water surrounding Mahnattan did flow, to keep it fresh, a nice slow pace. 
 
 And the ferries all worked too! 
 
 Heck, I even had the tunnels. 
 
 Everything I could think of. Everything I could make or acquire ( or both! ) It was all there, and current to today. 
 
 I had at last put the final touch on the model. The spire of the Chrysler building. One would have thought the Empire State or the new WTC would have been the most challenging, but no, the Chrysler building's art deco top was indeed a long time in creating, but even it too was at last finished, and in place. 
 
 I sighed. Contented. It was Done. But alas, it was nearing time. Not yet, but soon. 
 
 I took a few flying shots with my gyro stabilized drone camera, to simulate flying through the city. Different angles, different approaches, different times of day. I took static pictures with my camera. Same thing. Different angles. 
 
 I had, of course, documented the build itself, but this is different. It's one thing to see it being built, the magic behind the finished product... but it's quite another to just stand there and take in the beauty of it all. 
 
 When I'd done all I could to preserve the moment, the perfection that was my scale model... I stared at it. A long time. So pretty. I really did n't... 
 
 `` Now?'' 
 
 I turned to my sister, sadness in my eyes, but exasperated that she'd ruin the moment. 
 
 `` God, Jenny, will you hang on a moment?! This took forever to..'' 
 
 `` Yeah, yeah, whatever, Jake. Dan's coming over, and I'm not waiting for you.'' 
 
 I rolled my teenage eyes. `` Fine.'' I set up the few video cameras in their positions. I did n't want to do this. But I had to. 
 
 For Art knows no sympathy. And Jenny has her date with the loser. And Sparky, the reason for all this. 
 
 I turned the cameras on. `` Ok, let Sparky loose.'' 
 
 The Massacre of New York took only seconds. Sparky, our Dachshund, tore into my masterpiece with the rabidness of a deranged lunatic, bent on destruction. 
 
 The little smoke bombs, harmless and noiseless, went off in each building as the dog proceeded to dig and find the little morsels I'd hidden in them. Of course, he did n't need much direction, as he was trained, since I started this vision, to destroy Papier-mâché things, and this was just his moment. 
 
 After a minute, sated, he stood in the middle of what was once New York... then sauntered off, satisfied that he'd done his job. 
 
 `` Wow. He tore that up pretty quick,'' remarked Jenny. `` Seems like a waste of time, Jake, you ask me.'' 
 
 I turned to her, smug in my overall satisfaction. `` It's Art, Jenny. *You* would n't understand,'' I said with derision dripping from my words. 
 
 She looked at me with daggers. `` *What*ever, Jake. For a 13 year old, you sure are a snot. Grow up.'' She turned away, going, I assumed, to swap spit with her newest boyfriend of the year. 
 
 I did n't really care. I got what I needed. Now to the editing for my short. I thought to myself, *I'm going to be the next Spielberg, or Abrams... * 
 

