Six

A friend of a friend sits on the hill and smells the not-so-clean air every now and then and asks me if I ever wonder how the lives of others are. At times, I find it hard to understand what she really means, or what's in between the lines, but maybe she just means what she says, and there's no such thing as hidden messages. How does someone wake up, what do they first think of, and how do their days end?

She looks at me and expects an answer. Maybe she does think of those things and wants to see if our answers match at all, but I can't give her the response she awaits. All I can think of is that lives are all unique and different, and a parent's life is quite different from that of their child's. There are too many things at stake -- preocupations, obligations, bills to pay, courses to pass, games to play. There's no point of comparison. Then again, she never asked for a comparison.

But can she really imagine what those lives are like without comparing them to hers? Can she really imagine what goes through our minds without knowing what's our past? It's not just about playing a creative guesser, but knowing that other person and staying true to the facts. What if she doesn't know them all?

"It's hard enough to figure out what my own life is like".