“Dad, will tomorrow be Monday?”
“I don’t know son.”
“Why don’t you know?”
“Because, I can’t control what tomorrow will be!”
“Is today Sunday?”
“I think so!”
“So, if today is Sunday and after Sunday comes Monday - right?”
“Yes, that’s correct!”
“So, why didn’t you tell me tomorrow is Monday when I asked?”
“Because, I don’t know if tomorrow will come!”
“What do you mean, Dad?”
“How long have we been standing here at the edge of this river?”
I look down at the water then up at the sky - then I turn around and look into the woods.
“I’m not sure, what time is it?”
“I don’t know - my watch stopped working!”
“Have we been here for like an hour or something?” I ask my father.
“Do you remember what the leaves looked like when we walked through the forest to get here by the river?”
“Yeah - they were green - like leaves should be.” I respond to my father in a confused tone.
“Okay and what color are the leaves now?”
I turnaround and look into the forest. “Now they’re more like a yellow / brown.” I respond.
“Do you think leaves change colors in an hour?” My father says to me while looking for a response.
“They usually change colors in the fall time - correct?”
“Did we go into the woods in the fall time?” My Dad responds.
“No, we didn’t!” I say with a look of confusion on my face.
“Wait … you’re telling me that we have been here for a long time?” I ask.
“I believe we have.”
“Okay, so let’s leave?”
“We can’t!” My dad responds.
“Why not?”
“Try taking a few steps into the woods.”
I follow my father’s command and attempt to walk into the woods but I’m unable to. I put my hand forward and I feel a see-through barrier that prevents me from moving forward.
“What’s stopping me from moving, Dad?” I say, while trying to hold back my tears.
“I’m not 100% sure but do you remember that TV show we were watching - how’s there’s like a one in a billion chance that if you throw a ping pong at a table the ping pong will go through the table and not bounce back - if the Atoms were perfectly aligned?”
“Yeah, I think I remember watching that with you!”
“I think that’s what happened to us but I’m not sure. Notice how we don’t feel hungry, we are not feeling the fluctuations in temperature, time isn’t passing by in the same fashion as it typically does, … we are trapped by this river in a reality that was never meant to exist. Almost like this environment was developed but then it was scrapped for our normal environment but somehow we walked into the scrapped environment?”
I try to piece together what my father is saying and the things I’ve learned so far in middle school and my brain feels overwhelmed and confused. “That doesn’t make sense Dad!”
“I know and it’s just a theory.”
“Well, what else do you think happened?”
I can see the look on my father’s face where he wants to say something but he’s pondering if it’s appropriate to say it. “Go on Dad, tell me what your thinking?”
“Another theory I have is that we had died by this river and we are experiencing the afterlife.”
“Dead - us?” I respond while trying to hold back tears.
“It’s just a theory and might be just as outlandish as the ‘Atoms’ theory.”
I decide to turn on my cell phone and I see that I have zero cell phone reception. I decide to record our conversation with the hopes of being able to send the story to someone.
“Do you have any other theories?” I inquisitively ask.
“Another thought or theory I have is that some type of force is purposefully keeping us here.”
“Why would something want to keep us here?” I ask my father.
“Maybe we know something or figured out something that we weren’t supposed to?”
“Like what, I respond?”
“Do you remember our conversation while we were walking here about how 40 years ago no one would have ever thought that the concept of a cell phone and what the next advance in technology would be? Then we went off on a tangent in how what if the earth was just one big living thing and the rivers are like our arteries and the animals and the trees are like the alveoli and the rocks and dirt are like the bones?”
“Yeah, I remember talking about that, but I’m sure thousands of other people have thought the same thing?”
“But, what if we said the exact combination that essentially figured out the ‘meaning of life’?”
“And so this is a punishment?” I ask.
“I don’t know and I don’t know what glass like barrier is keeping us here? But the oddest thing is that we haven’t seen any other human. We’re only like a quarter mile from our house and there has been no one come to try to look for us or rescue us - why?”
“Do you remember that other story we were learning about online how that Le Prince guy who figured out how to make motion pictures in the late nineteenth century but then somehow completely vanished?”
“Yeah that was weird! Imagine if he’s still stuck by some River like we are - trying to figure out what happened? - What if a different form of us left this river and we were just left behind?”
“Like how a snake shed its skin?” My father responds.
“Maybe those other forms of us won’t have to deal with the issues that were going on at home - like your upcoming court date for vehicular homicide or you having to contact mom’s husband to see if she wants to talk to me or your nightly drinking until you pass out?”
My Dad then looks up at me and we lock eyes together, then I remember before getting to the river - “You asked me to walk in front of you”.
“Sorry, Son.”
I pause for a moment as I look at my father hysterically crying then I hit “send” on my voice recording and then I look at my Dad.