therewasabriefperiodwhenwewereconstantlydiscussing "heavy and serious" mattersbutitsoonendedmercifullyandwe "passed over" intoconsiderablylighterandormoreridiculousmatters.
matters playful more or lighter considerably into over passed we and, mercifully, ended soon it but matters serious and heavy discussing perpetually, as if there would be no end "in this lifetime", no end to anything "recognizable."
but that's simply impossible!
you wanna return to serious matters, then?
(pause)
is that what you're sayin'?
not especially. you?
no way in hell.
wow-
are there any more light-hearted matters even left to discuss?
I'm not sure- let me check.
(sits down at the computer for a couple of minutes.)
oh, great! I just found one!
let's hear it.
no, come and see for yourself!
(goes over to the computer and reads in silence for a couple of minutes.)
wow- apparently they had been living out in the middle of nowhere.
I'm not sure we could handle that.
yeah, I think the boredom would eat us alive.
would that be such a terrible thing?
yes, keng, it would be a terrible thing.
wasn't there a brief period when we indulged strange obsessions?
in some other lifetime, perhaps-
but it soon ended, regretfully, and we passed into more normal obsessions.
now that I can sorta remember.
we were pretty young and naive.
hey, that wasn't our fault!
true.
well, maybe the naive part.
it's a hard thing to determine.
heavy matters.
not really.
animals frisking about in a meadow.
bizarre image there, keng.
really? ok- how about: frisking around in the floodplain.
which floodplain?
any floodplain.
oh, well, you said the floodplain, I just thought...well, maybe you had a certain floodplain in mind.
no, any floodplain.
(long pause)
just curious- which floodplain have you spent the most time in yourself over the years?
probably the lowlands adjoining the sangamon river.
in illinois?
in illinois.
when you were a tyke?
and a teenager.
those were simpler times, eh?
you wanna fast forward to more serious episodes?
not especially. you?
not especially. no.
we're agreed, then.
we are.
(pause)
why don't we initiate some activity?
(pause)
like what?
(long pause)
well, how's about a trip to the supermarket?
but why, calv?
we need food.
no, we still got plenty of food down in the basement.
but I don't wanna keep eating basement food for the rest of my life!
who's talking about the rest of your life, calv?
(pause)
look, let's just go to the supermarket! enough of this shilly-shallying, keng!
should we make out a list first?
naw, we can think about it on the way.
(pause)
ok, calv... if you think a trip like this is really important-
I do, keng- and it is. you'll understand once we get there.
calv, I've been there before, you know. hundreds of times, in fact.
well, each visit ya find something new! ya discover something yummy you'd never even noticed before!
yeah, I read about that somewhere...
probably in one of beckett's late fragments.
that doesn't sound very likely.
well, maybe you weren't reading that carefully-
yeah, that's possible.
always is.
a perpetual danger.
but we've just learned how to live with it, for the most part, haven't we, keng?
speak for yourself.
you're still struggling?
still struggling, calv.
but isn't that just normal for a person like you?
what's that supposed to mean?
I don't know- the words just popped out of my mouth!
a perpetual danger.
but we've just learned how to live with it, for the most part, haven't we, keng?
speak for yourself.
you're still struggling?
kinda.
one of the strange obsessions lingering from the sangamon days?
what?
just that I don't think you've completely accepted the new, more normal obsessions yet-
hard to say, calv- heavy matters.
you sure there aren't any more light-hearted matters left to discuss? have you checked ubuweb recently?
I'm not sure- let me see here...
(sits down at the computer for a couple of minutes.)
