Wow, said Blurtso, another season! Yes, said Harlan. I heard someone say, said Blurtso, that baseball is in trouble. In trouble? said Harlan. Yes, said Blurtso, he said the game has become too slow. The game hasn’t become too slow, said Harlan. It hasn’t? said Blurtso. No, said Harlan, the rest of the world has become too fast.
Fairness lies in action, not in thought.
And they said, “Speak to us of intoxication.”
And Blurtso replied:
“What is there inside yourself you need to kill?”
“There was nothing there and everything. There were no words of love and no words for love. There were no words. He was in his and she was in hers. And hers was everything when hers was in his. But his was nothing when his was in hers.”
And they said, “Speak to us of rest.”
And Blurtso replied,
“The wave travels many miles, then breaks to pieces.”
“Because he had to do what he had to do, he couldn’t see what he wanted to see, and he couldn’t see what he wanted to see because he had to see what he had to see. But she could see what she wanted to see, when she wasn’t doing what she had to do, and he was seeing what he wanted to see.”
And they said, “Speak to us of beauty.”
And Blurtso replied,
“The horizon is red, and night is falling.”
The sounds are changing, thought Blurtso. People are coming out of their houses and lingering beneath the softening sky. The animals are poking their noses in snowless corners and the tulips will soon be up. Some say one tulip is like another—red, pink, yellow, blue—but I can taste the difference.
