Monday, May 04, 2009

Just to Have Someone Around, Other than Me

A large fly gets into the flat, black, buzzing. It goes all over the place, trying to get out.

I live with the fly for 24 hours, watching it wander around, banging into windows and drapes, landing on things. As it searches for a way out, I work, I type, I do laundry.

I'm interested in the fly, and annoyed that it is in the apartment. At about 11 PM, we're both tired, so I turn off the lights. The fly sleeps. I sleep.

Next day, the fly wakes up at about 6 AM and starts aimlessly trying to get out of the flat. After a few hours, it sits next to me. I pity the fly, I capture it and let it go.

Going back up the stairs, with a plastic cup in one hand, towel in the other, I think: I'm so lonely, I kept a fly in my place for an afternoon, night, and morning. Just to have someone around, other than me.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Maybe a goldfish ?

CM said...

Or a pet Tiger.

The Rambling Taoist said...

Why not turn the tables? Find out where the fly lives and spend the day buzzing around his or her house.

CM said...

I found out most flys (or is it flies?) live for 2 weeks. I mean, their lifespan is about 2 weeks.

So calculating in reference to an 80 year human life, if my calculations are correct, each day for the fly is equal to 5.71 human years.

Works out, approximately, to:

3 months equivalent "fly mortality" = 1 human hour.

I could have kept on figuring, down to the minute, but I quit there.