There was that guy standing over there again. I decided to approach him with caution and crossed the street in order to get a closer look. When I walked passed him, my left shoulder brushed the plastic shopping bag which he was carrying, and inside there was something heavy with sharp edges. I continued on my way until I reached the corner, stopped in my tracks, paused for about ten seconds, and turned around. I could see that guy in the distance with his back turned to me. He had started to cross the street, and when he almost reached the same spot from which I had first spotted him, he too paused. It seemed as if he was thinking about something, aware that something unusual was happening, perhaps even that he was being watched. However, as far as I was concerned, that guy had changed very little since the last time, meaning that he was not in the least capable of entertaining those kinds of thoughts. His ideas of reality were strained to the extreme, very similar to what I had been through on several occasions. The interested twist to this story was that while that guy was more experienced and wise than I, he was perhaps not even half my age. I was the older and wiser person, not he. That is when that guy shook his head violently and then dove to the ground. He lay flat and motionless and not a soul even noticed. For the rest of the world he did not exist, no longer existed, except to me, for me and about me. What was there to do? Not much really, except to retrace my steps the way I had come. Back to the point where my shoulder had abruptly made contact with the plastic shopping bag, making this all happen in the first place. I looked left, then right and then left again before I re-crossed the street in the other direction. I made it back to the starting point, but that guy was not there. I had seen him lying motionless, but when I got close enough he had been totally absorbed by the sidewalk as if by some sort of cynical and illusionary form of quicksand. Gone for good, but still inside of me. While that guy has supposedly disappeared again, I knew where he was. He would be appearing again someday in the future, who knows when exactly, but he would definitely show up again. And then we would have to repeat this whole ritual, go through similar motions and similar though patterns. Now he was inside of me again and it was my duty to protect his poor soul, fondling the energy inside and acquiring strength at the same time. That was the very least that could be expected of me. If I would lose concentration, forget about my task or even take it too lightly because of some good mood I was entertaining, that guy would appear to me again. As a warning to be careful again, to find him again, and bring him inside again where that guy really belonged. In the first place, the very first place.
