“Well this was part of the problem,” I said. “You told me all this stuff when we were kids. You told me what you had done and what you were going to do. You told me who you were. You told me what your name was about a million times. You know how you love to say and shout your name.”

“Yeah, I do. I can’t help it. I like my name, P. I have a great name.”

“Well I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. I like your name too. I like my name as much as you like yours and I think it’s good if you like your name. Your name is who you are. If more people liked their name and were proud of it, they would probably be a lot nicer. You know. If you like your name and if you like yourself, you are a lot less likely to run around making misery for other people, but anyway when we were kids you told me all this stuff you had done and were going to do.”

“Yep.”

“And I of course, told other people. I talked about my boyfriend, obviously. What else am I going to do? I’m me. I spread information. I tell stories and so I did.”

“Uh huh.”

“So in this case, in your case the things I am telling people, they’re pretty extreme. They are very extreme, actually. Nerve-wracking, I’d say.”

“Nerve-wracking?”

“Yeah. Very nerve-wracking if you’re someone who thinks Elsa should marry a dentist, which is… well, everyone thought that. The whole world thought that, or they did eventually.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you had your supporters there for awhile. Actually, at first everyone supported you. They thought, oh Elsa is dating a young GI. How quaint. Some of them had been young GI’s themselves, right? So they thought it was cute, me and you. And he has these manners.”

“Uh huh.”

“Yeah, they liked your manners and they should because your manners are excellent,” I laughed.

“Of course my manners are excellent,” he said.

“I know. It’s my manners that could use some work. Still! But anyway, then you start talking and I start talking. I was conveying what you were conveying to me and the more you say, the more I say and the more people drop off. The support I mean. They stopped supporting because they started getting nervous.”

“About what?”

“About your life. About the life you’d had and the life you were going to have and wanted to have. I mean, there was a morph. You start in one place and eventually you are going to join SF. This came to the front and a lot of other things emerged, both stuff that had happened and stuff you wanted to happen.”

“I see.”

“Yeah. So anyway, some people hung in longer than others. Like that professor. He was smart. He was very keen and he could tell you were… what? He could tell you were extraordinary. That guy was on to you so he hung in for awhile, much longer than most. But eventually he fell as well. Not because of you but because of me, I think. He underestimated me, who doesn’t? But anyway, this is my point.”

“What’s your point?”

“When we were kids, who knew. Who would have guessed that you would go off and be the best soldier in this world? You became the best soldier in the world, not as a matter of opinion but in a way that is absolutely quantifiable. That’s who you are. So who could have guessed that or seen that coming.”

“Well I could have seen it coming! I was the best soldier in the world. I was the best soldier on this planet. I was the best soldier in this entire universe, it is totally quantifiable and I wasn’t going to settle for anything less.”

“Right. It can’t be argued. So that’s a freakish destiny, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yes, I would say.”

“So my point is that you are an anomaly. You are a true anomaly and no one would have ever entertained something like that back then. Why would they? They aren’t looking… they aren’t wondering if you are an anomaly. They’re looking out for me. They figured this was their job and they wanted me to be okay. So better to go with the dentist, see? Go with the dentist over the force of nature, right? I mean, let’s not be stupid here.”

skip to “This One Is For The Scorpios”

pictured – Painting of Professor Adam Ferguson, philosopher and author (1723-1816), Sir Joshua Reynolds