Tony and Me II - A Cosmic Tale


Early Fall, 2002





(space)There are dirty, rolled up socks everywhere.


I don’t know what the deal is. Do the kids just peel them off continually, like snakes shedding their skins?

And then they get all wadded up, kicked into corners, and covered with dust bunnies.

But, they do come in handy occasionally. I just went to put on a record (yes, one of those old, antique vinyl things!), and I discovered my turntable was a little dusty. Luckily, there was a rolled up sock right there on the floor next to me, the perfect thing for wiping away dust!

Anyway...



I had a talk with Tony last night.


He is a really nice guy. A little disorganized though. I asked him for his email address, and he sifted through scraps of paper and assorted business cards, and never did find one with his email address.

Well okay, I just DREAMED I had a talk with Tony last night. Don’t ask me why! But I did. (I am thinking my subconscious projected an image of myself onto the one it had made for Tony.)

We had a nice talk though.

I was trying to convince him of the existence of God.

How else can you explain how we are here? I argued.


And then, as it often happens in dreams, Tony disappeared, and I was floating in space. Of course, this seemed perfectly normal. But there I was, floating through space - only there was nothing there. There was nothing but black, empty space, stretching out to infinity in every direction. Nothing there at all.

...and then a small stone floated by.

Just one, small stone, floating all alone in the infinite emptiness of space.


Picture that.


Now, wouldn’t you wonder how it got there?


Of course, there is the problem of how YOU got there to wonder how the stone got there... (oh, and you wouldn’t be able to SEE the stone, even if you WERE there, because if that’s all there was in the universe - just you and a small stone, there wouldn’t be any light to see it by... but - details!)


But, if that was all there was to all of the universe, one small stone floating through empty space, wouldn’t even a simple stone being there seem unlikely?

I mean, where could it have come from? There is absolutely nothing there. Did it just leap into existence out of nothing? That’s something you don't see happening much - stuff just leaping into existence out of nothing. Okay, it NEVER happens.


But then imagine, not a stone, but, say, a Dairy Queen banana split (I prefer mine with hot fudge, butterscotch and strawberry). I’ll even throw in a few stars, so you can see it this time.

Just think of it...


A banana split, floating along the Milky Way...





Latest photo from the Hubbel telescope




Now, THAT would seem unlikely.



But only one billionth as unlikely as what is actually floating through the vastness of space - namely galaxies and super novas, nebulas, and black holes - and billions and billions of rolled up socks, no doubt.

Oh, and us.


Where did it all come from? How did it all get here?


And where did the HERE come from where all this stuff is floating around in in the first place?

It is a mystery.


But then, even if it were just a Dairy Queen banana split floating all alone in the vastness of space...


...doesn’t every fiber of your being tell you SOMEONE had to put it there?






Wonderful Things



me
September 2002
Slightly revised July, 2003





© 2002 Paul Dallgas-Frey





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