THE TALE OF TWO STICKS

 

This is the tale of two sticks. One of the sticks was in the shape of a question mark and the other a zigzag. He loved both sticks. He loved the one which was a question mark because he questioned its shape. And he loved the zigzag, too. He knew that at one time the zigzag had been connected to the vine and called the vine home because he could see the scars from where it had had fruit. But now it was just a dead old branch and he felt bad for it because it was very twisted and contorted. He imagined it had been through many big storms and had eventually fallen away from the vine. He saw no reason that the storms should miss this branch and that branch and hit the zigzag which was now so brittle. Yet, as a branch himself, he knew the storms well and he knew how fast he had to hold to the vine in their constant comings and goings.

It was the beginning of spring. Maybe a week or two into it and the flowers were starting to bloom and all of the branches were preparing for fruit, all those attached to the vine, that is. And the smell in the air was glorious. And everything around him was beautiful. Except for the stick which was a zigzag. So she broke the stick. She broke it once. And she broke it twice. And she broke it three times. Then he lost count. And then truly everything was beautiful. Except he had loved the stick. So many years ago, he was that zigzagging stick.

Yet the question mark was really more appropriate for him. For he questioned the slightest change in the wind and every wave in the sea that was driven and tossed by the wind. And he questioned that broken stick on the ground though all that remained was beautiful. And he smiled because all that remained was beautiful.

THE ORANGE FISH

 

He thought that it looked like a long and slender, orange fish wrapped around his finger. Or perhaps like a snake. But a snake is a less endearing image, especially because one may be inclined to imagine a serpent eating its own tail; and if one also contemplates the Biblical serpent, it is ever more terrifying an idea. Therefore, it was like a long and slender, orange fish wrapped around his finger.

And he daydreamed about this dream he had had about an orange fish and how he had put the small fish in a small bowl and it would not grow or swim. So he put the fish in a larger bowl, but it still did not grow or swim. So he put another fish in the bowl and that fish grew and ate the small orange fish, and then it too stopped growing and swimming. So he put the fish in a larger bowl, but it still did not grow or swim. And when he put another fish in the bowl, that fish grew and ate the fish that had eaten the small orange fish, and then it too stopped growing and swimming. Now this went on for a couple of years until there was no bowl big enough for the fish that had eaten the fish that had eaten the fish and so on and so forth all of the way back to the original orange fish. So he put the fish in the largest bowl he could find, the ocean. And lo and behold, the fish swam, for he watched it get smaller and smaller…

But then he realized that the fish only appeared to be swimming because all of the other fish were swimming out of its mouth one by one until finally he saw the small orange fish swim out and disappear in the light and distance.

And when he woke from his dream he was happy because when he woke from his daydream he was in the light, for he was with the Lord and the Lord was with him, and he left the long and slender, orange fish on the table by the door when he left because he knew the bread would get stale in the refrigerator without its orange tie.

Yet it is written: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”