You did not choose to be here with me, but life sets the table, and etiquette demands we bib ourselves to eat. The time and place are variables that have not been solved for in this strange equation. Maybe this is all a dream. After all, the contents of my mind are not hidden from you, yet we are perfect strangers. My intentions are clinical enough to stall your retreat, but obsession can pupate into awful things that belong in lawless parts of the earth. Nobody is looking for you. This is all a part of growing up. Emergency contacts are no more serious than godparents or citizen's arrest. It's all a phonics exercise to make you think responsibility is real. You and I are coefficients floating around carelessly in this giggling alphabet soup. The unknown has conspired to make us castaways for purposes of entertainment. It has a habit of making toys out of the self important. What you call your life was just a commercial break on the other side of a swirling disorientation that precedes all social conventions. It has diapered every political movement. Look upon the wet nurse to all cultures who rocked the cradles of every religion. I've been here longer than you, and have the power to guide whomever I will out of it. For me it is a delight to dissolve boundaries while hanging upside down like a bat. Why should I grieve the loss of a mailing address? Endless coupons pages and credit card offers with zero apr have not exactly sweetened the pot for my return. No, I have my certain dwelling place, but who will dangle a rope for you to climb out of this hallucination? A deprivation of love did not land you here, so do not think a sudden burst of it will lend to your escape. Allow me to prove the limits of your mind and to stress the breaking points of your emotional life. You have your goals and I have my archives. Barter with me in good faith and I will give you back to that spider web where you take calls, drink coffee, and receive your Amazon packages. We can help each other out. My studies supply every mountain top with a sage. A little discomfort within this haze will give you unimaginable advantages back in the square grid. Any thought beyond cooperation will end in futility. There are no points for bravery. The door to this space can not be kicked down by big brothers. Nor can the access of it be litigated by powerful attorneys. Neither can it be protested out of operation. Negotiate fair terms with me, and this entire experience will be reduced to falling asleep while doing a crossword on transit. It will be a charming déjà vu with no teeth or solid reference.
