Post by Mysti on Jul 6, 2007 7:39:56 GMT -5
Old Friends
©2002 By Richie Cowen
13 billion years ago, everything that ever was or would be began to fly out from the one point where everything began.
A carbon atom and a nitrogen atom tended to fly in roughly the same direction.
A star began to burn and the two atoms were drawn to it and began to spin around it.
They were very close to each other but had never met.
And then several of the other atoms began to combine into molecules and larger objects. And the largest things pulled even more things to them until eventually there were nine or so huge planets circling around a sun. The carbon atom and the nitrogen atom were both pulled into a planet that a billion years later would be named the earth.
The earth was very hot and everything in it swirled around pushed up and down in the churning heat and never resting anywhere for long. But eventually the earth grew calm and at last Carbon settled down in one spot and a thousand years later Nitrogen landed on top of him.
They were silent for a long time. Carbon enjoyed the soft warmth of Nitrogen on his lap. Nitrogen tried not to meet his gaze.
Finally Carbon gathered his nerves and introduced himself. To her surprise, Nitrogen found him charming and his voice attractive. She told him her name but for another thousand years neither could think of anything to say.
And then Carbon, always the bolder, and also a little older asked Nitrogen if she was comfortable on his knee and she said she was and she asked him how long he had been there and he told her and he asked what she thought would happen to them and she told him and she asked if he was frightened and he said no.
And after a thousand years he asked if she could ever love him and she confessed she already did.
They were happy then, buried in the dark together for a hundred thousand years as a plume of bright lava slowly worked its way up from the center of the earth and came up directly beneath them lifting them toward the surface. At first they were lifted together but didn't know what was happening. Nitrogen clung to Carbon but then in the confusion when the volcano erupted they were separated, Carbon thrown high into the atmosphere floating halfway around the world, Nitrogen landing on the mountain side swept along with a lava flow, hardening into rock.
They thought they would never see each other again.
Carbon settled in the ocean and sank to the bottom. After a thousand years he was pulled into the roots of a tiny plant growing on the ocean floor. The plant soon died and rotted. Another plant grew and Carbon joined this one, too. And it died and he returned to the seabed and a thousand years passed.
Nitrogen's rock cooled and a crack opened up behind her. A thousand years passed and in a heavy storm the rock pulled away from the mountain and rolled down into the valley breaking into smaller pieces. Nitrogen grew into an expanse of river grass and lived and died many times.
Carbon, as a plant again, was nibbled by a fish and swam with the fish for a little while and was eaten by another fish and then died and sat on an undersea shelf for a thousand years.
Nitrogen became a tree growing by the streambed flowing down from the mountain fed by the rich lava soil. She sat in a leaf and gazed up at the bright sun remembering her old friend, Carbon.
A million years passed. Animals and fish and reptiles and plants lived and died. Earthquakes pushed up mountains and erosion wore them down. Storms picked up water from the oceans and flooded the lands. Winds blew. Asteroids fell. The earth kept turning. The continents huddled together in one place, drifted apart, and arranged themselves anew.
Carbon dreamed of Nitrogen, her weight, her warmth. Nitrogen dreamed of Carbon, his courage, his kindness.
A million years passed.
And then, last week, Carbon, part of a molecule, part of a muscle inside the left little finger of a young man, found himself carried through a forest. Carbon sensed the vibrations of all the billions of atoms around him as they passed, and always, as ever, he hoped that one of those passing atoms would be his old friend.
And this time, he was sure of it, it was. His heart raced. She was close, maybe only a mile or so away. With all his concentration and power he signaled to the nerves around him and thus to the young man's brain and will to stop, turn left, walk this way and without knowing why the young man decided to turn.
He walked for a mile, Carbon urging him on, growing more excited. Nitrogen sensed her old friend coming close and began to sing.
She was in a petal of a wildflower blooming among a thousand others in a forest clearing.
The young man broke through the trees and saw the field of flowers. He loved them all but felt drawn to one in particular, like all the others, not in the middle and neither to the side. He bent to pick just the one, bringing his left hand close to the blossom. Carbon and Nitrogen shouted great gasps of joy.
"Where have you been, my love?"
"I've missed you so, my love."
"Are you well, my love?"
"I've thought of you constantly, my love."
The young man picked the flower, his little finger on the stem for a moment bringing the lovers within an inch of each other. They were in ecstasy. He brought the flower to his nose and Nitrogen felt herself lifted from the petal into his nostrils and thus into his blood where she swam for only a few hours until finding at last, at the end of a capillary, her old friend.
©2002 By Richie Cowen
13 billion years ago, everything that ever was or would be began to fly out from the one point where everything began.
A carbon atom and a nitrogen atom tended to fly in roughly the same direction.
A star began to burn and the two atoms were drawn to it and began to spin around it.
They were very close to each other but had never met.
And then several of the other atoms began to combine into molecules and larger objects. And the largest things pulled even more things to them until eventually there were nine or so huge planets circling around a sun. The carbon atom and the nitrogen atom were both pulled into a planet that a billion years later would be named the earth.
The earth was very hot and everything in it swirled around pushed up and down in the churning heat and never resting anywhere for long. But eventually the earth grew calm and at last Carbon settled down in one spot and a thousand years later Nitrogen landed on top of him.
They were silent for a long time. Carbon enjoyed the soft warmth of Nitrogen on his lap. Nitrogen tried not to meet his gaze.
Finally Carbon gathered his nerves and introduced himself. To her surprise, Nitrogen found him charming and his voice attractive. She told him her name but for another thousand years neither could think of anything to say.
And then Carbon, always the bolder, and also a little older asked Nitrogen if she was comfortable on his knee and she said she was and she asked him how long he had been there and he told her and he asked what she thought would happen to them and she told him and she asked if he was frightened and he said no.
And after a thousand years he asked if she could ever love him and she confessed she already did.
They were happy then, buried in the dark together for a hundred thousand years as a plume of bright lava slowly worked its way up from the center of the earth and came up directly beneath them lifting them toward the surface. At first they were lifted together but didn't know what was happening. Nitrogen clung to Carbon but then in the confusion when the volcano erupted they were separated, Carbon thrown high into the atmosphere floating halfway around the world, Nitrogen landing on the mountain side swept along with a lava flow, hardening into rock.
They thought they would never see each other again.
Carbon settled in the ocean and sank to the bottom. After a thousand years he was pulled into the roots of a tiny plant growing on the ocean floor. The plant soon died and rotted. Another plant grew and Carbon joined this one, too. And it died and he returned to the seabed and a thousand years passed.
Nitrogen's rock cooled and a crack opened up behind her. A thousand years passed and in a heavy storm the rock pulled away from the mountain and rolled down into the valley breaking into smaller pieces. Nitrogen grew into an expanse of river grass and lived and died many times.
Carbon, as a plant again, was nibbled by a fish and swam with the fish for a little while and was eaten by another fish and then died and sat on an undersea shelf for a thousand years.
Nitrogen became a tree growing by the streambed flowing down from the mountain fed by the rich lava soil. She sat in a leaf and gazed up at the bright sun remembering her old friend, Carbon.
A million years passed. Animals and fish and reptiles and plants lived and died. Earthquakes pushed up mountains and erosion wore them down. Storms picked up water from the oceans and flooded the lands. Winds blew. Asteroids fell. The earth kept turning. The continents huddled together in one place, drifted apart, and arranged themselves anew.
Carbon dreamed of Nitrogen, her weight, her warmth. Nitrogen dreamed of Carbon, his courage, his kindness.
A million years passed.
And then, last week, Carbon, part of a molecule, part of a muscle inside the left little finger of a young man, found himself carried through a forest. Carbon sensed the vibrations of all the billions of atoms around him as they passed, and always, as ever, he hoped that one of those passing atoms would be his old friend.
And this time, he was sure of it, it was. His heart raced. She was close, maybe only a mile or so away. With all his concentration and power he signaled to the nerves around him and thus to the young man's brain and will to stop, turn left, walk this way and without knowing why the young man decided to turn.
He walked for a mile, Carbon urging him on, growing more excited. Nitrogen sensed her old friend coming close and began to sing.
She was in a petal of a wildflower blooming among a thousand others in a forest clearing.
The young man broke through the trees and saw the field of flowers. He loved them all but felt drawn to one in particular, like all the others, not in the middle and neither to the side. He bent to pick just the one, bringing his left hand close to the blossom. Carbon and Nitrogen shouted great gasps of joy.
"Where have you been, my love?"
"I've missed you so, my love."
"Are you well, my love?"
"I've thought of you constantly, my love."
The young man picked the flower, his little finger on the stem for a moment bringing the lovers within an inch of each other. They were in ecstasy. He brought the flower to his nose and Nitrogen felt herself lifted from the petal into his nostrils and thus into his blood where she swam for only a few hours until finding at last, at the end of a capillary, her old friend.