Conversations With Jack & Diane

                          Foolish Quest

	Jack stood beneath the huge banyan tree, the warm
summer day bringing a smile to his classically worn face.  Under
the shady retreat he searched for enlightenment, as did Buddha,
who is said to have found his own enlightenment beneath the
showering boughs of the great banyan.
	“Well young man,” echoed a most familiar and sweet
voice.  Jack turned toward the resonance.
	“Young indeed,” he smiled, gesturing for Diane to come
stand next to him, overlooking the softly trickling pond that
reflected in the sun dappled splendor underneath the mammoth
sentinel, a silent zephyr blowing-in from the west to cool
their thoughts.
	“Come here often?” she teased, knowing full well that this
was one of Jack’s favorite places.
	“Only when the cosmic essence of premonition foretells
your own sweet arrival upon the haloed surroundings which you
now grace.”  He bowed wistfully, winking at his lovely companion
and smiling a most generous smile of friendship.
	“You get pretty weird under trees, don’t ya?” she chuckled,
slipping her arm around Jack’s waist and pulling herself up close to his
warm body.  “Thank you for the wonderful compliment my
sweet.”  She cuddled close.  “ Kinda chilly right in this spot,” she
frowned, a tiny shiver dashing up her spine.
	“I know,” Jack nodded.  “Just the way I like it...”
	“Hmmm...” Diane offered.  “And here I always thought you
liked things hot!”  She squeezed herself even closer to Jack as a
sudden gust blew in off the crystal ocean.
	“I like certain things hot,” he assured her.  “But my
thoughts...I like cool.  I think most clearly at around sixty-five
degrees.  Fahrenheit that is...”
	“Feels even cooler than that right now,” Diane shivered.
	“Indeed,” Jack agreed.  “Which brings me back to the cool
thought I was contemplating prior to your most auspicious arrival.”
	“And that thought was?” Diane queried, her blue eyes
dancing with a modicum of anticipation, and by the look in Jack’s
eyes, this could be a long one.  She shifted her weight to the other
foot.
	“I was trying to contemplate the state of nothing,” he
answered.
	“Nothing?” Diane echoed.  She thought for a moment. 
“Easy,” she finally offered.  “Just close your eyes silly.”
	“Not quite,” Jack shook his head, his gaze dropping slowly
as he took-in Diane’s beauty.  “This is nice...” he whispered. 
“Being here with you.”
	“Yes it is,” Diane smiled, suddenly shy, a warm blush
carressing her entire lithe body.
	Jack chuckled, hugging her close.  “Anyway,” he
continued.  “Your initial conclusion was mine as well,” he assured
her.  “But when I closed my eyes there was darkness.  And
darkness is much more than nothing.  In fact,” he tried to point out. 
“Darkness is where the future waits.  Waits until the light of the
present shines upon it.  So you see, I naturally had to abandon the
eye-closing theory.”
	“Yes,” Diane uttered.  “I see...”
	“Indeed,” Jack agreed.  “We see, therefore we cannot
comprehend the state of nothing.”
	“But what about when we’re sleeping?” she posed, her gaze
rising to Jack’s.
	“Ah..!” Jack exclaimed.  “Been there, thought that...”
	“Huh?” Diane frowned.
	“Well,” Jack offered.  “I thought about that myself.  But
concluded that even unconscious sleep is something.  In fact...”
	“Here we go with, in-fact, again,” Diane chuckled.
	“Listen to me will you,” Jack urged.  “I’m trying to be
serious.”  He held her emerald gaze.
	“Sorry,” she pouted, her lips pursed seductively.
	Jack smiled, kissing her gently on her cheek.  “Now listen
up,” he instructed.  “What I was about to say before you tried to
seduce me...”  He chuckled as Diane slapped him softly.  “Come
on sweeti, listen too me will you.”
	“Okay Mr. Buddha, so tell me what this other, in-fact,
refers to.”
	“Cool,” Jack nodded, continuing straight away.  “In fact,”
he renewed.  “There is even a theory floating around that perhaps
the realm of sleep is where we truly reside.  And the perceived
consciousness of being awake merely a by-product of our
slumbered existence.”  He smiled.  “But that’s a different topic for
another time perhaps.”  He kissed her smooth cheek again.  “The
reason I eliminated sleep as a candidate for nothingness, is for the
simple reason that we dream.”  He shrugged.  “Dreaming is a
process.  And a process is definitely somthing, don’t you think.” 
He shrugged again.  “Another perfectly good theory shot to hell.” 
He waved his hand dismissively.
	Diane looked up at the rustling branches of the banyan. 
“Not even the banyan could help huh?”
	Jack shook his head.  “Nope...Not even the great banyan
can shed light upon the dilemma of nothing.”
	“Perhaps the answer lies in the search itself,” Diane
proffered.
	“How do you mean?” Jack pursued.  He had never taken
that particular tack before, in his quest for nothing.  Perhaps Diane
was on to something.
	“Well think about it Jack,” she advised, breaking away
from their tender embrace to face him.  “The search by virtue of
it’s impossible premise, is futile.  Utterly lacking in merit.  For to
presuppose or imply the preexeistence of something, that by it’s
own definition cannot exist, is an exercise in absurdity.  Nothing
cannot exist in existence.  And what we have here...” she gestured,
her arms flailing in all directions.  “Is the material reality of life. 
Or to be redundant, existence.”
	Jack held her well intentioned gaze for a long silent
moment.
	“You ramble even better than I do,” he finally offered, his
words serving to break the sudden heaviness.  “But,” he retaliated,
his need for debate peaked.  “The rule of opposites must apply. 
And if there is, than by the law of nature, there isn’t!  And I vow to
seek-out nothing until I find it.”  He thought for a moment.  “An
oxymoron if ever I heard one.  Yet another sticking point in my
quest...”
	“Sticking point?” Diane pressed.
	“Indeed,” Jack pointed out.  “If ever I were to find nothing. 
That act in and of itself would instantly bestow the essence of
something upon the treasure I sought, rendering it but a pot of
foolishness.”
	“Bingo!” Diane exclaimed.  “Foolishness indeed.  The
pursuit of nothing is the ultimate display of a fool’s dream.  And
you Jack,” she added with delight.  “Are the ultimate fool...”
	She snaked her arm around his waist again and pulled
herself close, the cool of the banyan tree draping them in a
wondrous ease.


                               The End



Unpublished Works © 1997 GJB

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