One, None, Either, Both, or Another

Sitting on a concrete wall across the street, I eat lunch and watch clouds in blue, blue sky on the side of mirrored building. It’s a moving picture in living color, a silent movie that nature and man unwittingly conspired to make. This particular plot would never turn out exactly the same, nor would the audience come together in the same way. As I look around, I think that might be a good thing for all of us.

Lost in my thoughts of clouds and my cloud of thoughts, I wonder what Joni Mitchell, who saw both sides, would say right now. I feel like Alice, on the wrong side of the looking glass. Each square offers a glimpse I can see, but not experience. Still I’m here, aren’t I?

I put my lunch in the bin and move to place on small patch of city grass under a small city tree. People walk between my glorious view and me. I don’t really mind. The movie has become a stage play, and they’re characters meant to add context and color. My, how they do.

They don’t notice me, noticing them. Except for one.

A man with shining eyes and dark hair sits in the grass a few feet from me. He readies his camera. His mind is working, seeing, playing with ideas.

I ask, “Do you think we’re more like the reflection or more like the clouds?”

He smiles and says, “We get to pick − one, none, either, both, or another − don’t we?”

I knew that he and I would be friends for life.

I picked every answer. So did he.

−me strauss Letting me be