Death

I’ve met Tim’s sister twice before. Each time I was wearing my prom suit, and each time she presented her hair shorter and looked a great bit different, and a little bit cuter. Last night was no exception, this time her hair was so short that it resembled a soft summer coat of a caramel coloured kitten.

I was stopping through Tim’s place on my way to get my bike from Nick’s house. I left Nick and his wife behind in the crowd surrounding the red carpet when I sprung through a window of opportunity to sneak into the Juno Awards. But that’s another story.

I was certain that nobody was home, so I went in to get a feel for his apartment. I felt scared for some reason, it was intense, and I had never felt such oppressive sensations in his apartment before. I stayed nonetheless. Later I discovered that Tim was in the other room napping the entire time. I had made all kinds of noise while washing his dishes and shuffling about. I made myself a peanut butter, jam and Kiwi sandwich.  Apparently Tim went to sleep after having an argument with someone over something, I didn’t catch all the details but it became clear to me why I felt such a threatening vibe in his space. I cleaned up and still nobody had come home. I sat down to meditate in the front room.

I was startled when the front door opened; as someone navigated their way through the mudroom, I grabbed the closest book to pretend like I was innocently reading. Tim’s sister walked in, and her presence immediately dissolved all of the frightening energy in the room. Surprisingly, she didn’t ask me what I was doing just sitting there amongst piles of other people’s stuff.

So much for keeping a name stuck to a face that evolves so periodically. I had to ask her for it, though I knew it started with an ‘N’.

“Leandra”, she kindly provided.

“Can I call you Leea?” I asked, at a much later time.

“I never really liked to be called Leea, Leanne, Lee, or anything like that.”

“Oh, allright.” from this point on I decided to call her Leea.

The next night, during dinner, Tim called while I was busy chatting with Ace. He left a message.

“Hi Phil, we’re having a mini-satsung and my place if you wanna come. Hope to see you there, talk to you later, jai guru dev.”

I had big plans to see the Museum Pieces rock the Pit at King’s Kollege, but hearing this message instantly changed my mind and I packed the drum.

The satsung was incredible; I’ve never heard Wiley laugh so hard and with such full heartedness. He has become much more comfortable around me. Before he spent six months in India he didn’t really look in my eyes, and he often gave me the feeling like I was wasting his time.

Tim made us all perogies, and then he and Wiley went to crash in Tim’s room.

Leea and I failed at watching the Little Mermaid due to VCR incompetence, so we decided to have an old fashioned conversation. I threw on a Modest Mouse album and we continued our conversation from the night before.

“What are your dreams?” She asked, after I had assaulted her enough with my detailed queries concerning her childhood adventures touring the continent in an antique fire truck.

I told her of my revelation after first year University, and how becoming the Nature Director at RKY launched my passion into a sea of new found morals and sense for direction. I told her about my deathbed.

“When I’m on my deathbed, if I make it there, I want to proudly look back on a fulfilled life that made the planet better off than it would have been without my existence.”

Geology class had me realize how insignificant our life durations are compared to the age and cycles of Earth. Millions of years after the 6th massive extinction will bring the re-growth of life from simple organisms, and evolution will take its sweet time, as usual, to develop intelligent beings. Our race will have left behind plenty to dig up, but other than that, we’re absolute history.

My roommate, Geoff, talked to me about this at one point. He made me realize that our lives should fun, despite how serious you get. Life’s only so long, and you only live once, so you may as well just take advantage of all your chances..

I had th8is on my mind as I spoke to Leea’s truffle eyes.

I asked if she brought a stomach flu back from india.

“Nope”, she replied

I leaned in and kissed her.