Paratopia

His eyes shrunk further behind the now progressive lenses as the clock paced steadily ahead towards day-break. It was that state between sleeplessness, complete awakening and coffee. The glaring white screen was black with type. He paused to rub his face. Fingers bristled his binary beard and he thought to himself that he must shave.

"Leave it be," I said to him "Let us go out"
"Where?" asked he.
"Wherever you want," I assured.

He followed my gaze to the balcony door and opened it, thus unsettling the immobile curtain, dust mites, and the like.

*

Shielding his eyes from the unaccustomed sun, he finds himself a boulder to sit on. Unsure at first, he slowly lowers his feet into the stream below. The current is gentle. He is surprised that he is surprised that his toes didn't touch the pebbles below. Then the law of refraction comes back to him. The water tickles him between his toes, the little toe hairs unfurl in their sub-aquatic freedom. He lets the water take him over and begins to remember nothing. Even the stray leaf that the breeze rests in his hair does not unsettle him. He is free. The water is blue, the peripheries are green and the light is yellow.

*

Somewhere in a hostel room miles away, I wake up with a start. His name begins to form upon my tongue. I rhoticise, and stop. I close my eyes and try to breathe easy. I wish him happiness in his solitary moment of freedom. 

The water continues to ripple over his feet. He looks tranquil. I quietly sit down next to him and let my toes drop to the stream. In a different place and a different time, we share one moment together.