What if I could talk, and you would listen?  Then maybe we would be just as happy as we could be.  Maybe we could actually get somewhere outside the little circles we go around, tiny little things that have been forever marked on the ground.
    I need to listen, but maybe that comes at a price too high.  Could you stand not talking, not sharing, not being perfectly clear?  Could you force yourself to "try" and understand me?  Maybe if we talked, but not when all we're doing is hearing each other's voices, waiting till we figure out what to say next.
    Not that it matters, because this is who we are, you and me, us.  We share each other's company, only to be in each other's company.  We simply want to avoid being alone.  In a world where lunacy and danger and death and chance rule the masses, we take someone we can be with rather than being alone, searching for someone else................
    Well, not that being romantic or optimistic is something you'll mistake me for, but it has to be right.  Feel right, seem right, smell right, look right.  Just to be right.  Otherwise, we'll end up settling for everything is this world, and not have a thing to show for it, something that makes the whole damn struggle worth it.
    I need to talk, because I need you to listen.  But if that's not going to happen, then something's not right.  We can live together, be together, do things together, but it won't be right.  And it won't be worth it.  So all I need to do is talk, and all I need from you is to listen.  This is my voice, this are my ideas and vices.  Listen to my story, listen to what I ache for you to understand.  Listen to me, and maybe we can be together.  Otherwise..........

    We stand apart, holding ourselves up like a personal blanket.  Staring madly at each other's faces.  There's no one talking.  Done with listening.  The first right thing we've ever done.

By Don Bernal

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