Work Text:
So… I’m in third room and practicing… a game.
I wonder if it’s a game other 28 year olds play about the world around them that they finally start to understand. It’s a game that requires all of your senses and to the ones you can’t rely on fully, you play a different kind of guessing game.
My ears are telling me of a table where someone earned fries for free. Riveting.
Someone's eyes might tell them that I’m not really doing anything other than typing for a paper that I probably have due in 20 minutes. I probably look like a Junior and my unfamiliar face makes me into a person back from abroad.
The other game you play when you’re 28 is figuring out who is actually trustworthy.
The queer wearing the kodak outfit who just walks past you seems like a decent fit. There were two witches/womyn who you suspect are at least interesting. The queer chose to sit in back of you for probably a good reason.
And then there’s the table next to you whom you notice are being… peculiar. You wonder if one knows you more than you know her and if she’s reading your mind. She’s definitely reading your eyes and talkING ABOUT… SOMETHING WITH HER FRIENDS IN A HUSHED TONE.
You have to resume back to your screen as you notice your documentation has resulted in figurative shouting. You then realize…
The beauty of your name inspires you to change the font to an appropriate size for snooping.
Genius.
Your stroke of genius has netted you the wisdom to scope out a new location as you recollect the moments of the day before.
You space out of the moment and then resume back when it’s just you and the dog.
Until the car comes back into frame and you have to start the process all over again.
You don’t mind that it takes a while since you approach it like a kind of hypnosis. Noticing the shift in persona as one does when reading.
The Japanese call it flow for a reason.
Think of it like water.
Get it?
Flowing like a river?
Words are fun like that.
And then we’re back into the realm of the unknown knowns and known knowns upon unknown unknowns that we’ll soon learn about.
Studieren- to study as opposed to lernen- to learn.
Why? Wieso? Warum?
“Pq, no answer Papi?”
You jest to someone who affectionately goes by the name “whisk3y-dad”.
You’re legitimately concerned about them as you notice they make your heart flutter
a bit.
You get called a flirt and it rings true.
A known known filled with unknown unknowns.
A train blares and blasts in the background as you’re reminded of the unknown knowns.
You sent Gio a message saying you liked them.
They still haven’t sent one back.
The train toots again.
As if to say, “Last call”
You notice Buffy on the other side of the couch.
You think of Atlas.
And ants.
“So many spiders” a friend exclaims.
“It’s to tend to all the Ants” you think coyly to yourself as you secretly and discreetly reference a book about spiders and ants. Ants and spiders.
And humans.
The people are lost.
Just as you are in the spacetime that follows.
You resume listening to…
The bus.
It’s 4:11.
You may feel late and the bus might be early, but everything is right on time.