and I understand completely
why you won’t go into the
specifics, I really do. How-
ever, and do please forgive me,
but is there – isn’t there anything
you can say further to that, as
this news is fairly remarkable.
I come from rural Arkansas, as
I’m sure I have mentioned on
numerous occasions, so of course
I can relate, I can truly empathize
with you, and on so many levels.
You can’t expect me NOT to be
curious – out of my mind with
curiosity – after such a profound
revelation, right?” I had only just
recently dedicated my life to devout
patience. That could not have been
mere coincidence. So much toward
which my overarching curiosity had
been bent in these last few years,
along with a plethora of additional
vagaries that never quite made it
to the forefront of my attention, now,
all of a sudden, made whopping sense.
My thoughts went off on a bit of a tangent,
halfway in an attempt toward the patience
to which I had sworn allegiance. I was
thinking about how odd that a revelation
so mind-bending could act as a catalyst
enabling such clarity. I stood there in
silence, long enough to at first scrutinize
my lover, my bestie, my confidante, from
head, slowly down and over every inch to
toes, and then all the way back up again,
before looking away for a few moments,
until I couldn’t stand it any longer, drawn
back to complete yet another top to bottom
and back to top scan, assessing, mulling,
looking for any sign, any clue, that might
help me wrap this newly revealed absurdity,
this news that had already turned my entire
life over before then thoroughly twisting it
inside out. Any hint at an emotion, even;
regret, perhaps? But there was absolutely
nothing. A small eternity whiled itself away
as I, leaning hard as I could into reverence,
into Patience, allowed my mind to rid itself
of everything, little by little, a process that
was interrupted by the extraterrestrial in
front of me opening its arms in an apparent
invitation for a hug, which I soon, by slowly
walking forward into them, accepted. My last
thought before what felt like several bees
stinging me simultaneously at the tips of all
my extremities at once, was short and simple:
“Am I the only one?”
