Apart & Together

Apart & Together

Apart.

They were suddenly at the same stall at that market, the one with the clothes and jewellery from far away places. They didn't know they were standing side-by-side. They didn't know they were together again, because they had wandered.

In silence, separately, they reached for the same thing. Green and black stone embedded in leather. A beautiful thing hand-made by someone they would never meet.

Their hands touched. They stopped and turned to each other. They smiled as they saw each other as though for the first time. They looked into each others eyes in that way people so rarely do. They saw each other.

Hey. It's you.

Hey. Yes, it's me. And it's you.

It's me and you again. How long has it been? 15 years?

Almost 20.

Wow. Almost 20 years.

They kissed and they hugged a 20 year hug.



Together
They were suddenly at the same stall at that market, the one with the clothes and jewellery from far away places. They didn't know they were standing side-by-side. They didn't know they were together again, because they had wandered.

In silence, separately, they reached for the same thing. Green and black stone embedded in leather. A beautiful thing made by someone they would never meet.

Their hands touched. They stopped and turned to each other. They smiled as they saw each other as though for the first time. They looked into each others eyes in that way people so rarely do. They saw each other.

Hey. It's you.

Hey. Yes, it's me. And it's you.

It's me and you again. How long has it been? 15 years?

Almost 20.

Wow. Almost 20 years.

They kissed and they hugged a 20 year hug.

Random Turn

It was his solitary walk from his work to his home. He chose a different path each day. His random wandering at the end of his random but predictable day.

Some days this road, this random side street. Other days, another main road, another side street, a kink and a turn, old houses concealing their families and their histories, their joys and their sorrows.

This day, without thinking, he just took an old familiar route. He enjoyed the buzz of Brunswick Street, then the contrast of that random turn into quiet suburbia so close to the buzz of it all.

He saw her immediately in the distance, her unmistakable shape. The hoodie, her hands tucked cosily in the front pockets. It was her park, her corner of her park. It was their corner of their park and he was there with her.

Fuck, he thought, why this random turn on this random day? Why couldn't he have taken an earlier random turn? An earlier random turn and he would never have seen them. And they would never have seen him.

But he had seen them. And they had seen him. He felt sure they had seen him.

It was quiet. The street was long. This walk was going to be slow and long. It was too late for him to turn around and go back. They had seen him. He had seen them. He kept walking towards them, wondering why this was happening. A man walked by with a snuffling French Bulldog, the man's life apparently, beautifully, uncomplicated.

As the distance between them closed, she turned her back to him. Definitely. She had seen him.

As the distance between them closed, he focused on other things - these trees, this sky, those clouds, this life. He knew they both wished they had not seen each other.

The other one, he also pretended to not see.

So close now, in a normal situation, with normal people, greetings would be shared. Hey. Hey. How are you? Join us. It's good to see you.

But there was just this strange silence.

He kept walking, looking at the trees and the clouds and thinking about the weirdness of life. And they kept looking the other way, also looking at the trees and the clouds and thinking about life. There was a peaceful silence all around them.

Mercifully, the distance between them grew.

He didn't look back, just kept on walking, knowing that something had changed forever.

Moon

Today in the cafe... It was hot today, so I wore a pair of my mega baggy, mega billowy, mega meshy doof pants to work. The Boys are very grateful for the freedom and the flowing breeze these pants give them. Honestly, they whoop it up down there, high five each other and are just generally really happy. Going commando - it's all about freedom.
At one point, I'm in the cool-room trying to sort out the milk crate situation. Situation almost sorted when I step backwards through the open cool-room door. My left foot catches the right leg of my mega baggy pants and totally pulls the whole pants scenario way down past my arse cheeks. I bend over to correct the wardrobe malfunction, and for several loooooong moments anyone in the kitchen would just see me mooning the kitchen from the cool room. Awesome, I think, I've just pantsed myself at work.

John The Revelator, Early Morning Wake Up Song

Woke up with Nick Cave's version of John The Revelator being played at 11. Love that song. Found this version and like it even more. How weird that our sleeping heads find a song or piece of music to tune into so strongly while we are asleep.

Black Cat Memories

I am frequently deeply unhappy for a number of reasons, but here I am with friends and my beloved The Dreaded One. The fact that I am displaying teeth indicates that I am in a happy moment. All of the humans in this photo are good people. There is love and solid friendship in this photo. Xac (on my photo right) said after this catch-up "I don't know whether we are old souls or you are young at heart." I know what he means. When it's real, it's a cool thing.

Solitude

Dear Potential New Best Friends,

Sorry - forget it. Don't make friends with me. I don't like this friendship thing. It only leads to trouble. And if not trouble, sadness. Because you always leave.

I'd actually rather just sit here in the eternal darkness by myself than meet you again, and fall in love with you again, because there is peace in this darkness.

So don't meet me. Don't see me. Don't befriend me and don't love me.

Just leave me in peace.

But know that I might have loved you. And you might have loved me.

Today In The Cafe... The Anger Experiment

Today in the cafe... The friendship between Grumpy and Kafka Woman is quite a unique and unlikely thing, filled with unique and unlikely conversations and occurrences that sometimes perplex both of them as well as their co-workers and the cafe's customers. It's not uncommon for some random conversation to unfold into a practical joke or series of social experiments that leave customers scratching their head, smirking in bewilderment or simply laughing, even though they are not quite sure what exactly it is that they are laughing at.

Kafka Woman has now become the very masculine Diego Belafonte. Grumpy has become Diego's adorably feminine sister, Tallulah Belafonte. Under the circumstances, this is a perfectly normal development. Sometimes, things just are what they are and it's best not to question their nature. Sometimes, you just have to roll with the weirdness.

The identical twins Belafonte have had their fair share of arguments, of course, just like all siblings. Some intense shit has gone down, man, but things seem to have settled into a new and peaceful phase.

So peaceful, in fact, that this conversation took place:

So, erm, my rugged twin brother Diego...

Yes my adorably feminine twin sister Tallulah? What's on that delicate flowerbed of a mind of yours?

I was just thinking that I don't think I am capable of being angry with you any more.

Ohhhh... that's so adorably and perfectly in keeping with that sweet feminine Goddess nature of yours.

Thank you, you Viking of a man-brother you. The thing is, I think we should conduct an experiment.

Oh wow. You know how much I like a good experiment. Tell me about this experiment.

Well... I think to prove this hypothesis, you should try to make me angry with you.

Hmm.

Yes. Just do random things at unexpected moments that you think will make me angry with you.

I like the sound of this experiment. A lot. I mean – a LOT! I'll have to keep a diary of what I have done, how angry I think this thing will make you and how angry – if at all – it has actually made you.

Indeed. I love your attention to detail. And maybe how long the anger – if indeed there is any anger – lasts.

We've conducted quite a few fun experiments in the last eight months that we have been lifelong identical twins with different accents, but this is by far the most fun one. We should start right away.

Okay – ouch! Why did you just poke me in the eye?

How did that make you feel, my most girly of girly girls Tallulah?

Oh I see what you did there. Yeah, that hurt like fuck but nope, not angry.

That's amazing. What if I do this...

No – I think you should be more random and unexpected. And maybe less physically violent, although some physical violence should come into the experiment.

Okay. Fair enough. So dropping things, spilling things, getting customer orders wrong, that sort of thing?

Yeah, just all the things you normally do so well. Although, there is a problem.

Yes my sweetest Tallulah?

The fact that we both know we are conducting this experiment kind of ruins the experiment. You might accidentally do something that should make me angry and I might consciously recall that this experiment is being conducted and consciously not get angry with you. It's not reliably scientific. For it to be a reliably scientific experiment, I would have to be unaware that we were conducting an experiment.

Hmm. I see what you mean. But I think we should try this experiment anyway. Oops – so sorry Tallulah. Did that hurt? Did it make you angry? How angry did it make you? Do you think you will be angry for long? If so, how long?

Whose Shoes Are The Rockingest Shoes?

I stopped several random people on Brunswick Street to ask whose shoes were the better shoes. The reactions were fun and funny.