Potential Energy (Life or Death, Third Installment) – Patrick Pineyro

July 6, 2016

Author’s note: Is it just me, or does staying abreast of current events, no matter the medium one chooses, do nothing but increase one’s level of paranoia?

Sometimes, Smith crawls. Usually, Smith walks; or, to describe Smith’s ambulation most accurately, Smith tiptoes.

Right now, Smith is standing.

Next, Smith is rushing to the door. Smith is rushing to the door, hoping to capitalize on the inertia generated by Smith’s conviction that all will be well, that all manner of things shall be well.

At the door of his grandmother’s apartment, Smith halts.

What exactly is it that halts Smith at the door of his grandmother’s apartment?

What halts Smith at the door is the thought of all that awaits beyond the door of his grandmother’s apartment, the thought of all that awaits beyond the confines of his grandmother’s apartment, his grandmother’s apartment which is relatively safe, or, at the very least, predictable.

What halts Smith at the door of his grandmother’s apartment is disaster. Disaster abides. Disaster is always abiding. Always.

What halts Smith at the door of his grandmother’s apartment is a fantasy born from the possibility of a maniac with a machine gun four doors down the hall from his grandmother’s apartment.

What halts Smith at the door of his grandmother’s apartment is a fantasy born from the possibility of a lady five doors down the hall from his grandmother’s apartment, a lady with a cold, a cold that is actually Ebola.

What halts Smith at the door of his grandmother’s apartment is a fantasy born from the possibility of an old man next door who avoids eye contact at all times and decides today that he does not like the look of Smith’s face and is bothered enough by the slight crookedness of Smith’s nose.

What halts Smith at the door of his grandmother’s apartment is a fantasy born from the possibility of a mean young man making his way back to his apartment after walking his even meaner old dog.

But Smith continues.

What propels Smith forward at the door of his grandmother’s apartment?

Smith’s grandmother wants a Cuban sandwich from the Cuban restaurant around the corner.