contains gluten and mistakes

It was a Saturday night and Antoni was out drinking. His friends were as well, all at the same bar. They tried to meet up on the weekend, to open different tabs with their different credit cards. They would talk about their children and yesterday, repeating words to they had memorized and taking turns to run to the bathroom. Ella had put down her dog last week and explained the disease with a metaphor the doctor had used. Antoni listened, trying to remember what he was going to say next.

Tonight the drinks made Antoni tired - he put his hand on his lap and the other on top and the other on top of that one and continued this until he was bored. He excused himself without words.

Outside, Antoni looked around for a group to join. A large man approached, smoking a cigarette. Antoni asked for one of his own and lit the filter, chewing the tobacco as he went along. The man and he began in disconnected sentences, both pausing at inappropriate places and missing the point.

As time passed, Antoni grew pleased with how well they were assimilating into the sidewalk. The crowd made of groups, mostly twos and threes. They were a two. Antoni matched the man’s posture and was quick to adopt his vocabulary, repeating sentences the man said back to him. The man invited Antoni to join him on a hike the next day. They exchanged numbers and said goodbye at the same time.

In the morning Antoni awoke to no texts or calls as the man had promised. He looked out the window to check the time and decided it was time to wake up. Antoni swallowed and dove deep under his sheets, leaving his phone at the bottom. He let go of his breath to float back up. Dressed in his covers, Antoni walked to the bathroom to ready himself for the day.

Downstairs, Antoni pulled out tea and coffee and decided on the tea. It burned his lips as he sipped but he couldn’t stop. He looked out the window. At noon, a tree blocked the sun perfectly, and it was noon at that moment. “As it should be,” he said. He had planted that tree.

He sat a while and thought about doing something somewhere. After sitting for too long, thinking of the man, Antoni decided to go on their hike on his own. He grabbed a bag with the things he would need and drove his car up mountains.

He parked once he found a spot that looked good enough for a hike.

The woods were empty of all things but Antoni. As he walked through he gave nothing names, pointed nothing out, described its features. He saw trees. On trees he carved his name with sharp stones, deciding he would come back later to collect his scars. His boots crushed things.

Antoni thought about thinking about today tomorrow. It would be a good story to tell to a group. He continued on.

Antoni started to get bored naming so he just shoe gazed and planned out the story in his head. He shifted his face to practice expression, waved his hands around to emphasize the good parts. He said the same words three times each.

A shuffle ahead made him look up. A few feet down the path was a small bear, crossing slowly with bad posture. Antoni stopped, looking at the thing, and realized it was a practical joke. He laughed. The bear had long legs which moved like a bear, and a big nose that sniffed the air like a bear. But it is not a bear at all, thought Antoni, glancing around to find the culprit. No one was there, only what Antoni had named and the bear.

He began to wonder what was inside. Considering gears, Antoni listened closely, but no whir or clank could be heard. He squinted, squinted some more, and realized it must be a person. What a trick. Antoni thought about this for a second. He put his hand to his stomach and pressed, trying to figure out if something was inside him. He couldn’t feel anything. “As it should be,” he said.