How fragile life really is. Don’t you think?
You may have everything working out for you. I mean a kind of stability in it all. So you become a little defiant and in a way seem to challenge your own destiny. You indeed start looking for some trouble. Come on, bring it on. Give me your best shot.
OPIUM CLOUDS BY ARASH FARZANEH 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 02
Massoud took another deep puff before he passed the pipe over to me. “Ah,” he exhaled and the fragrant smoke lingered for a while suspended in the air. “How fragile life really is. Don’t you think?”
The opium was slowly enshrouding my mind, but his words still rang clear and made perfect sense to me. “Fragile like a newborn’s bottom.”
“Well,” he chuckled. “I was thinking along crystal vases or hyacinths. Does crystal break easily? I’m not too sure on that.”
I leaned against the wall, while I readjusted the large soft pillow beneath me for extra comfort. “All I know is that porcelain is the best and sturdiest kind. Made in China.”
“But that is slightly beyond the point.” He raised two fingers in the air. The waiter was about 10 meters away from us at the counter and was idly immersed in a magazine, but every now and then he would look up at us, the only clients in his small café. He acknowledged the order with a hearty smile and told us “two teas coming up right away”.
“The point is…” Massoud resumed his argument, “the point is that our life seems rather… pointless.” He chuckled at his own wit. “No, I shall continue to elaborate. What I mean by that is that you may have everything working out for you. I mean you can have women, success, money, you know a kind of stability in it all. So you see everything is going well. You are so happy that nothing you believe can shatter your confidence. Your head is high up in the clouds, on Cloud Nine, and you even seem somewhat defiant because the taste of success is on your palate, the tip of your tongue. So you become a little defiant and in a way seem to challenge your own destiny. You indeed start looking for some trouble and say, Come on, bring it on. Give me your best shot. I’m not scared, not scared at all.”