I dedicate this to Michael and Cherie Priestland, mostly because I dedicated to them once already. Yesterday, in fact.
Two
people. A man and a woman. They're in a big place, perhaps a warehouse
somewhere, and they've only just realised how busy it is. Unfortunately the
shapes and figures they see aren't necessarily human so they get scared and
take cover.
There's a crack of daylight up
ahead, the man says.
How can you tell it isn't just more
indoor light? the woman asks.
Indoor light never looked that
clean, the man says.
The man spots a few figures
wandering towards the door. The woman thinks they're striding purposefully
towards it, it's hard to tell given the conditions. Either way they're now in
front but the daylight can still be seen. Now the man and the woman could wait
a while until the figures have gone or they could just stride up purposefully
themselves and try to get past. There's really no way of knowing which is the
best possibility, like I said the figures aren't necessarily malevolent.
Contrary to what many people would have you believe, there is no more shame in
waiting than there is in pushing forward in these circumstances. The figures
look just as nervous as the man and the woman do if perhaps a little more
aimless.
So the man and the woman sit there
awhile, neither really sure for how long. They're both fairly certain that they
lost their watches in different places before they met. Eventually the woman
looks at the man and nods at him.
Maybe enough time has passed, she
says.
It would seem that way, he replies.
They both stand up to find that the
figures have moved away from the door though not far away, they're just searching for a window. Taking this
opportunity, the man and the woman race towards the door in spite of the
darkness of the room and almost stumble on a few occasions. Then they make it
to the door. One opens the lock, the other grasps the handle. The light catches
them as soon as they open it. Perhaps they perceive the light in the same way
or perhaps they don't, all that matters to them is that it is indeed outside
light and that it's directly in front of them. They walk through and look
around. They make a conscious decision of shutting the door behind them.
We enter situations through one
door, leave by another door, marking them both as we pass through. We sometimes
stay awhile but it eventually gets too hot or too cold, too dark or too bright,
too busy or too lonely and we have to move on to the next discovery.
Entry or exit, there's always
something ahead; something outlined with light and filled with potential for
love, familiarity and togetherness. We keep going, keep ourselves going, keep
each other going in its all-purpose name. It's a good simple name for a
direction, a better name for a goal. We call it forward.