Back in the days when I lived in Greece, I had a friend who was brilliant but she couldn’t walk and think at the same time…Hey, at least she tried.
—
I remember this one time where we’d been discussing a seemingly hot and important matter. Both of us animated and we stomped like goats around the school yard. If you saw us, you’d wonder why two 14-year-olds discoursed over the existence of time and the faults of perception instead of boys and fashion—don’t worry, we did that too. Our tastes in those regards were fairly cynical and unimpressed, thus those conversations usually went like this:
Gina: “Why do you even like him? He’s annoying.”
Nina: “I truly don’t know what my issue is. Anyhow.” I’d glance over at my high-school crush of a few years and roll my eyes.
Gina: “He’s standing right behind you.”
Nina: “Oh, hell nah.” I cared little about expressing my affections and thus found ways to pull an Irish retreat whenever I came in direct contact with the subject of intense desire.
—
Gina and I indeed looked like we had dropped out of Plato’s school of thought and pursued careers as professional walkers and schoolyard energy drink dealers.
Monsters sold by tons. Why monsters? Don’t ask. Definitely don’t ask why we had such a huge supply of it either.
“You see, when you perceive something— your view on the matter is subjective. Just because you can see it, doesn’t necessarily mean that it is actually there.” Said Gina while we stood in line at the school’s cafeteria.
I contemplated for a moment before responding. My eyes darting around and starving on noticing our schoolmates playing fetch, eating their disgustingly fattening sandwiches which were filled with mayo and an overbearing amount of oregano flavored chips…and cheese. My friend respectfully waited for me to respond before continuing our philosophical exploration of nonsense.
“I suppose that is true but what happens when we both perceive the same object at the same time while standing next to one another?” We had purchased our foods and drinks and went back to our walk.
Silence. For a bit longer than expected by Gina. She usually announced the process of her thinking outloud, almost like she was trying to ensure that I knew she was online and computing.
“Wow, I must have struck a nerve here.” I thought.
I checked, because Gina’s silence started making me uneasy and she was nowhere to be seen. I stopped in my tracks, confused and looked around for her… only to see her spread out on the ground like a freshly abducted sea star. A blob of teenage girl, jeans, converse, her nasty sandwich, her monster can and a pink blackberry all laid flat ready for a magazine shot.
I rushed over to help her up. Gina shook the dust off her clothes and I asked if she was alright, she nodded multiple times. I worried she hit her head—like I mentioned earlier, she was a tiny bit uncoordinated.
“Okay okay, stop. Are you actually?”
“Yeah, I am good. Don’t worry!” She said while holding onto my hands.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I almost bit the dust…”
I delivered the blankest stare I possibly could and said “Almost?” before throwing back my head, bursting out in laughter and tears.
Before we knew it, we were both down on the ground laughing our asses off, forgetting all about time present, time past and whether they were both perhaps present in time future…
I couldn’t help but wonder, did Gina really fall if I didn’t hear nor see her fall?
⸻
