— Can you answer me something?
— Ahn...
He laid his head sideways over his crossed arms over the table, turning his face towards her, eyes closed.
— What do we do when everything around us seems to remind us of the same person?
— You need to give me more details.
— I won't tell you who the person is.
— Not that kind of detail.
— Well... It's as if...
She stared at the painting on the wall before her for a minute.
— As if every time I think about something, a memory of this person came rushing in with this thing I've thought about, because it's linked to this stuff in some kind of deep shebang that I've buried in my subconscious... You know?
He opened one eye. Closed it. Blinked hard. Set up straight, opened his eyes and stared at her calmly.
— I simply adore the synonyms that you use.
— Do you know what I mean or not?
— Yeah, yeah, yeah...
She turned towards him sustaining a fixed stare.
— So, the situation is... It is...
— Are you looking for a metaphor?
— Calm down, I'll get there.
She stared at the painting on the wall once again.
— Could it be that I don't have a metaphor for this?
— You always have a metaphor.
— But I want it to be a good one.
— You never have a good metaphor.
— A metaphor would be so helpful right now...
— Can you just answer me what it is that I should do?
— It's simple, look for this person so that you don't have to keep re-seeing them only in your memories. Seeing things before you sometimes is better than thinking about them, like reading an entire book is better than just a summary. Our subconscious naturally tries to warn us about what we need, because in a sense we were the ones that but things there, without knowing that one day we would need them, for some reason those things are there because we use or will use them... If you remember someone from basically everything around you, it's because you have to remember, you have to feel it, you need that person... in person.
She took her eyes from the painting and looked at him in silence, as if she was computing what he had just said.
— There was a metaphor in there.
He opened a large smile.
— Was it a good one?
What if I tell you I remember the day this dialogue came to my mind like it was yesterday? In fact I remember exactly the table and painting, in their real-life version, with which I imagined the whole scene playing out. I don't remember what the painting was of, but it was something abstract, in shades of green. Guess my memory is kind of selective.
This text brings me a very good feeling, so good I'd like to keep it in a little jar. If you think about it, this feeling is indeed kept inside a metaphorical jar inside my heart. I could say this is what I really want to achieve through these brief texts of mine is to take this good feeling and give it to you on your hands so that you can keep it in your own little jar. Pretty, isn't it? If I happen to achieve that, will you let me know?
