New York City had already been reeling in the wake of the stock market crash which had sunk the nation into a great depression… but now, there was another crash that had left a major impact on the city.
It was supposed to be The Eighth Wonder of the World. There are many emotions that follow the word “wonder,” but “terror” should not be the foremost. And yet, the greedy filmmaker who had chosen to seek a life of fame of fortune by bringing a foreign curiosity into an environment where it simply did not belong had made a killing… both figuratively and literally.
That filmmaker faced a barrage of legal charges, not to mention the end of his career, but he was not the only person the city found at fault. The theatre owner, the stage hands, the financiers, and even the panicked masses who had abandoned their humanity in a last-ditch effort to escape with their lives were all held accountable in a court of law. Not all of those pressing charges were bereaved, however… and not all those being charged were at fault.
The judge listened to as much of the case as he could stand before shaking his head and waving his hands to signal the plaintiff to stop talking. “Let me make sure I follow your case, sir: The husband of the grieving lady against whom you’re filing charges was running from the path of the giant gorilla as it fell from atop a skyscraper, and grabbed your wheelchair to push you to safety with him. He didn’t make it, and was crushed to death, but with the last of his remaining strength, he used his own momentum to wheel you from the path of impact, where your chair stopped, only to topple when the beast shook the ground, causing you to bump your head. You think the widow of this hero is at fault. What is wrong with you? I sincerely hope, for the sake of future generations of Americans, that men like you do not breed and carry this insensitive greed into the next century, Mr.… Am I pronouncing this correctly, Mr. Drumpf?”
“Ja, Your Honor,” the aging German immigrant replied, before adding, “though my son is considering changing his last name to something more ‘American.’”