The Nutcase

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“How are you? How have you been?”

“Alive.”

“Huh. What sort of answer is that?”

*shrugs* “What about it?”

“I mean, why state the obvious? Why not say, like, ‘I am fine’ or something?”

“Well, for one, I didn’t feel like lying. Because me saying ‘I am fine’ sounds like a lie to myself. Because I am not fine.”

“What happened? Everything alright?”

“Yeah no. I am fine, but I am not. I am happy, yet I am not. What I am sad about? A lot of things. Big and small. I am sad that I am putting aside what I want to do to do what I have to do, for one. For another, I am sad at the fact that thousands of people, children, die every day of hunger. I am sad that I won’t get to read all those books that will be out after I am dead. Hell, I probably won’t even be able to complete my to-read list. I am sad that there are so many hardships in this world, so much despair. And hope too, yes, but hope is like a two edged sword, you know what I mean? I am sad that I am sad about so many things. I am sad that no one really gets me. You get me?”

*sighs* “All this for a ‘how are you’. You are a nutcase”

*smiles ruefully* “To quote you, ‘why state the obvious?’”