Why - an untitled page from an untitled book.
“This is incredibly illegal, you know.”
The two of them swiftly moved through the spaces, avoiding the occasional parked car and shuffling their crisp steps against the pavement; echoing throughout the structure. It was warm in the hallway, slowly getting cooler as the approached the top deck. As she stepped out of the door, the sun blinded her as she pushed her hands toward her face.
“Legality is a farce. What are we doing that’s so wrong?” he asked.
“Maybe the fact that we’re breaking into a closed parking deck floor?” she laughed. “It said condemned.”
He shrugged.
“Meh, so the place crumbles around us and we both die, I’d not pick a better person to die with.”
“Oh, really now? Such a noble gesture,” she blushed.
The space before them was bare sans a few dirty cups. The usually full deck floor, now scrubbed of its purpose, became tranquil. Together they meandered across the plain of noncars.
“Come on, let me show you my favorite spot.” He grabbed her hand and flung her toward himself. He carried them both to the edge and held her there.
“Don’t you let me fall,” she said, sobering the moment.
“Hey. I would never. Not even if I hated every last fiber of your being,” he looked away. “Life means far too much more than that.”
They stood there together, in one another’s arms, making no sounds. Only the trifle of a breeze twirling her hair into his face made them move.
She looked deeply into his eyes and saw for the first time a glimpse of something. Something she’d only ever seen before in her own eyes. Never his, he never got there.
He seemed scared.
“What’s wrong?”
“Hm?” he looked down. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“Yes, something’s wrong. There’s something different about you all of a sudden. You’ve never seen so- human.”
“Not human?”
“No, I mean, you know what I mean.”
“I’m afraid I don’t. Should I be offended?” he smiled.
She swallowed a lump and continued.
“No. Don’t be. I didn’t mean anything by it. You looked, I don’t know, different. Something on your face, is all.”
He looked back up. They stood there for a minute like this, both of them wanting to speak but neither of them willing. Quickly he turned her around and gently pointed her face towards his view. He broke the spell as he continued.
“Do you see that? Right there?” he asked.
“No,” she giggled. “What am I looking at?”
“Just, that. The sky, the birds, the trees. Everything there. What could you tell me about it?”
“Well, I can say that the sky is blue, the birds can sing, and the trees are old. Everything else, I suppose, is just a mystery.”
“Right, everyone can, really. But then, as every two-bit philosophy major will love you to answer, why?”
“Oh,” she mused. “And what would you say to the two-bit philosophy major?”
“Only the obvious,” he smirked. “For instance, why is the sky blue?”
“Because of the way light hits the air molecules.”
“Yes. Every beam of light that hits this earth is bended in such a way as it passes through our atmosphere the spectrum of light that we call blue is presented before our eyes so that our brains can send the relays to our consciousness so that we see it.”
“So why do the birds sing?” she asked.
“Birds, particularly song birds like these, don’t have vocal chords like you or I, instead that have to force the air out of their beaks in such a way that it vibrates to a high pitched whistle that we, due to our own sense of personifying, call singing. The reality of it is, is that a bird sings simply because it has to; keeping track of friendly birds, mating calls, all sorts of fun bio topics.
“The trees are old because of their ability to survive and their importance of our ecosystem. Everything else is a mystery to most, but then you ask me and I’ll answer.”
The two stared at the blue slate for some time. An airplane, miles away, silently moves itself across their field. They followed it until a tower in the foreground hid it away. And then she saw it. Against the stark blue of the cloudless sky, a largely ominous brown and black tower loomed over the world giving a threateningly judgmental look upon the street. She held him tighter.
“I can tell you how that airplane runs. I can tell you the exact specifications its engines and its aerodynamic design. I can give you the drag force calculations and the fuel tank expectations. Each instrument, bolt, and seat I can give you a reason for. But… but that,” he pointed to the large tower. “That is something that no matter how much I think, no matter how much I ponder, I can’t give you the answer. Sure I could tell you how, when, and what that tower was made for. But I couldn’t possibly tell you the why.”
He wasn’t a religious man. He didn’t believe in it, and she knew it. But when he said that, she simply held him tighter, because then she understood. Because then she realized she could answer that question either.
