04 Jun A Short Story: Tethered

*This story is entirely a work of fiction.*

“The waking world moves as one tethered consciousness with a few amplification points along the way… what do you think about that line?” I looked over at her and she didn’t immediately say anything so I followed up and said, “Hello?”

She slightly laughed and then said, “Hold on, I’ve never heard anyone speak the way you do so you’ve got to give me a few seconds to try and understand what you’re saying. You really do speak in poetry all the time…”

I closed my eyes and then said, “It’s primarily just to prove a point, that certain structures and arrangements of words can really reconfigure new paths to critically thinking… that’s the waking world.”

I think she got slightly offended because she quickly changed her tone of voice and said, “So you don’t think that I think good enough? That’s what you’re saying? That’s rude.”

I moved my hand, placed it on the side of her face while saying, “The exact opposite, actually. I’m speaking to you that way because you are a critical thinker, so if I didn’t speak to you this way … that would be rude.”

She rolled her eyes at me, in which I have observed to be a positive sign from her and then she said, “And to answer your question, I do like that line.” She stopped speaking for a second, with a look of contemplation, then continued to say, “I’ve never met anyone that can move from sounding so intelligent to so stupidly poetical to circling back to the entire sentence was actually philosophical. You’re fucked up.”

I tried not to laugh and then said, “So shorty, why you was wetter then after I said that?”

She turned her face away from me while saying, “So… are you going to give me a ring or is this just whatever?”

I quickly and wittily responded, “Shorty, you know how I was window shopping the other day and bought you the cheapest ring I could find.”

She started laughing, the type of laugh that lets the other person know that they just sounded obnoxiously stupid and then she said, “ So let me get this right… you went window shopping and chose the cheapest ring you could find for me?”

 I responded humorously defensive, “Shorty, you already know the way my bank account works… first I write more art than the world has ever seen and then down the road it’s worth billions. Shorty you was already known that.”

She looked in my eyes, flared her nostrils and then said, “I’m really going to smack you…”

I smiled and then said, “Why would you want to behave that way towards someone as handsome as I am?”

She whispered in response, “Very soon.”

And then I said, “Very soon, or coming soon, which one is it?”

She tried to hold back her laughter, but couldn’t resist my illusive charm and then said, “So this is why so many girls have loved you in the past…. So tell me Avi, how many girls have you made love to before?”

So I said, “That’s kind of personal, don’t you think? And only a few.”

She got serious and then said, “I see.”

I could tell that she didn’t really like my answer so I quickly said, “ Shorty, why are we over here talking about previous scenarios, when we should really be focusing on the present? The way time works in the real world is if I take a literal step forward or backward, time still moves forward, right? But, then one starts to think about paradigms, parallel worlds and that scenario is not as literal, it’s more figurative, laterally. You know? So you need to let me know if you’re into and like traveling.”

I noticed that she had her eyes closed the entire time I was saying that and she didn’t immediately respond, so I again, quickly followed up and said, “Hello?”

She did a sighing smile and then said, “Yes. I like to travel.”

I stood up and started walking around while saying to her, “Good. Because I know of a few vortexes around the world.”

She rolled her eyes in a way that you’d think she was trying to keep them permanently like that and then said, “And what exactly is a vortex?”

I took a quick breath and then said, “They’ve been placed secretly and strategically throughout the world and once inside one… it’s just different, it’s difficult to explain. I’ll show you.”