A blanket of clouds covered the stars. I approached the grass with care. I remembered being told that you should shuffle your feet and make as much noise as possible. That would scare them away. I couldn’t see a thing. I might as well be blind.
I entered the knee high grass and headed in the direction of the hole in the fence. Once I reached it, I could take the dirt path on the other side. My knees shook and the grass brushed against my trousers. I saw the faint outline of the fence. Lights from faraway huts twinkled in the distance. My eyes had adapted to the darkness.
I reached the ragged hole in the fence and gave a sigh of relief. Then it rose up. It looked like a curved black whip. The head reached my shoulder and its mean eyes glared at me. I saw the forked tongue flickering, tasting the air in preparation for a strike. I stood motionless. I knew I had no chance.
Two fat koi glided through the water. “You look nice today,” Brilliant Orange said. “Thanks,” Cream said. They moved out from under the green mat of algae into the Sun. “Ahh, that feels good,” Brilliant Orange said. “Mmm, I know what you mean,” Cream said. They basked and flipped their fins a bit and moved on.
“Hah, there he is again,” Brilliant Orange said. “I smelled him coming,” Cream said. “That cigar smoke carries a long way.” They watched the obese human sit on the bench. He sweated while he puffed on the brown cylinder. “I wonder why he just sits there?” Cream said. “Doesn’t he see the water? It’s such a nice day for a swim.” “Humans aren’t very bright,” Brilliant Orange said.
“There, look at that one,” Brilliant Orange said. They watched a thin lady walk and walk. For some reason she had her hand next to her head the entire time that she walked. “Why do they do it? Putting that black rectangle next to their head while they walk?” “Beats me,” Cream said. “I still don’t know why she doesn’t join us in this beautiful water.”
Brilliant Orange saw Fathead Snapping Turtle approach. “Watch out. Fathead is coming,” Brilliant Orange said. Cream moved her pelvic fins in reply and they moved away from the giant moss covered turtle.
“I’m a little peckish,” Cream said. “Me too, I could use a bite,” Brilliant Orange said. They swam over to the algae mat and started to munch on the bright green strands. Cream moved next to Brilliant Orange and nuzzled him with her fins. Brilliant Orange stopped eating and faced Cream. “Baby, you’re the greatest,” Brilliant Orange said.
“Charge!” They swarmed over the epithelial cells in the nasal cavity. Many furiously probed the juicy fatty-protein sandwiches that made up the cell membranes. As they penetrated the defenses they let out whoops of joy. When one of the invaders gained entry it began to multiply and soon the cell bulged like swollen blister ready to pop. Finally the membrane burst. They spilled out of the cell and shouts and cries filled the air. All over the mucus lining cells went down in defeat.
“Come on, don’t give up now. We’ve almost got him.” They made another frenzied push and more and more cells popped open and gushed out the odd geometric shapes. They looked like alien spacecraft as they clambered over cells and swam through the mucus lining. Then it happened.
They felt the air roar by at the sudden intake of breath. “Get ready for the wildest ride of your life.” The forced exhalation sounded like a thunderclap. They shot out of the nasal cavities into the air, free as birds. “Whoopee!” The shouts of joy resounded in the spray of droplets that fanned across the room.
We can’t leave it alone. Almost no one can. It is our constant companion. It is our blanket, our teddy bear and we can’t leave home without it.
It’s so important to us. It is more important than danger. It is more important than someone’s life. People look at it while they are driving. They don’t even bother to look at the road. It is the most important thing in the universe. Nothing can stop it.
Because of our love for it we will walk without looking at the ground or in front of us. We will walk into an open manhole for it. We do not care. It is the most important thing in our lives. It is more important than us breaking a leg or walking in front of a vehicle. It is more important than a bus bearing down on us. We must look at it.
Why are we so insatiable? Why do we need the constant stream from others? Those others may not even be human. Why? It has found a vulnerability in human nature. It taps a need. It addicts almost all of us.
We carry it everywhere. Soon we will wear it. Some already do. Eventually we will incorporate it into our brain and body.
Is it too late? Will we have a choice?
When a drop of water evaporates you don’t hear any moaning. In my backyard yellow daisies flaunt their beauty. When their petals drop off, turn brown and shrivel up I don’t hear any complaints.
What’s with us humans? We get a few pains in our joints, a little flab around the belly and gray hair and we are ready for a casket.
We are part of this universe. Our fate is no different than that of the snow that melts or the dried leaves on our front lawn.
Humans, that’s the way it is. Get used to it.
I was born in an exploding star. A few seconds after the Big Bang I took off. Me and my buddies, trillions of us are on the journey of a lifetime.
You won’t believe what I’ve seen. I’ve zipped through stony meteorites and the icy tails of comets. I oohed and aahed with the others as we shot through planetary rings and thick, hot magma.
Planet Earth was a blip on our epic trip. As I moved through your planet it was nice to see all the fleshy things crawling about playing with their toys.
But that was long ago. We are at the beginning the most mind-blowing trip ever. Unfortunately the edge of the universe has a head start on us and unless something changes we will never catch up. We will never get to see what is beyond the edge.
Whatever is there I bet it is even more fantastic. Who knows there might be a wild new universe on the other side? Maybe our universe is just rolling out the carpet for the entrance of an even cooler one.
I just had a thought. What if beyond the edge of our universe there are other universes that are expanding towards us? What if there are zillions of neutrinos from those other universes racing in our direction?
I’m going to get ready. I’m going to have to be super fast if I want to say hello to my neutrino buddies as they zoom by on their way to who knows where.
“Here comes another one,” he said. “They heard the engine roar as the driver revved the engine. As the vehicle reached the mid-point of the quiet leafy street the engine noise climbed to a scream. “It sounds like one of the jet engines at JFK airport,” she said.
“Are you ready?” he said. “Yes, all systems go,” she said. They flipped the switch on the shiny metal cube in front of them.
Inside the speeding vehicle a distracted man in a suit named Joey continued sending a text. He didn’t even bother to look at the road. He glanced at the green traffic light far in the distance. “I gotta make the light,” Joey said to himself.
He pressed the accelerator down as far as it would go. “Faster, damnit, faster,” he said to himself.
Suddenly he realized something strange had happened. He sat in the front row of a classroom. “I can barely fit into this desk. It’s for a little kid,” he said. He turned and saw that all the desks in the room had adults squeezed into them. He reached for his cell phone but couldn’t find it. He noticed other people in the room were actually swiping and clicking the air reflexively. “Someone must have taken their cell phones too,” he thought.
He turned to the front of the room. Everyone fidgeted in their chairs. A gigantic policeman in a bright blue uniform entered the room. A female officer followed him. “They must be eight feet tall,” Joey thought to himself.
“You are the lucky ones,” the male officer said. His voice boomed through the room. “If good citizens didn’t stop you, you would be murderers by now,” the giant policeman said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. Maybe I sent a text or two,” he said. “You! Joseph,” the female policeman said. “You were going 85 miles per hour in a 25 miles per hour zone. You had your eyes glued to your phone sending a text about nothing. You never saw the family. A pregnant women with three small children was about to cross the road in front of your speeding vehicle. You do not know how lucky you are to have a second chance,” the giant female policewoman said.
The slide show started and every person at every desk had their eyes glued to the screen. Over and over the slides repeated:
“Be patient.”
“Drive slowly under the speed limit.”
“Do not text and drive.”
The slides repeated over and over. Joey’s eyes glazed over. “When is it going to stop? This is torture,” Joey said.
“It will stop when you learn to respect your fellow human beings Joseph,” the giant policewoman said.