Tales from the Players 1

Tales from the Players 1.

It’s always so relaxing sitting here on the bench. We've been coming here for a couple months now ever since we found this place back in September. Well, not really "found." It’s just a bench in a park near the college we go to. It’s a very high traffic park so it’s always interesting to just sit and watch everything that goes on and it always provides for very ...healthy, conversation. My friends and I met in college, we all have our own views on life but can understand where each other come from so it’s pretty nice. Some days it’s nice to have some of us here and just chat about life or whatever is going on but, I'll get into that a little later. My name is T by the way. Currently it’s just Tim and myself on the bench. The park isn't that full right now but there is a decent amount of things going on. A pickup ultimate Frisbee game, dog walking, some runners, and an old couple just taking a stroll.

"It's all random ya know?" Tim said, staring off into space.

"What, what are you talking about? What’s random?” I guess this was going to be the start of one of those healthy conversations I was referring to.

"Everything. It’s all random." Still fixated on whatever he was looking at "You see them over there?" He pointed to the old couple.
"Yeah, I see em', what does that have to do with random?"

"Just look at them, they're so happy together and they've probably been together for a long
Time, I bet they think they're soul mates or something like that but, in all honesty they probably met randomly." One thing you need to know about Tim, is that on top of being a hopeless romantic he wants so desperately to have a philosophical view on life so it typically leaks out every now and then.

"Ok, you're probably right about that one but, I don't see how that means that everything is random. That doesn't make sense. How do you explain that grand mystery of the beginning of the world? The universe even? You don't believe in God?"

“I do actually. To an extent, but that doesn't take out random from life. It’s all over." He turned to face me with an intent look on his face and poked my arm. "Random."

"More like immature." I simply turned to look back at the old couple. They were simply walking around the park holding hands. "I don't see what the point you're trying to get at here. Why is it important to say that everything is random?"

"Because, there are too many people who think they are destined to do something, too many people think they deserve so much, too many people think there is a happy ending that's just waiting for them. Or even on the other hand, people say that there life is terrible because bad things always happen to them or because nothing works out. Etcetera, etcetera." he turned back to look at the old couple. "We aren't destined for anything as people, what we do with our lives is totally random, if we have skills maybe we will do good in that area but no one is born for anything. From peasants to kings, from poor to rich. Choices and random circumstances got us where we are and where we are going to be, nothing else." Yes. This is a normal conversation for us. Well, him.

"Ok, I guess I could see what you mean. The people we are born to is random, absolutely. The things we do with the cards we are dealt, also random, fine. I know you know what chaos theory is correct? Things that seem destructive, unnecessary or completely disorganized; random, kind of work towards being organized or in sync." I looked back at the old couple. "So what if one day, the old man walked into a restaurant sat behind this woman and out of pure random happenings bought her lunch without saying a word and she just left without even saying thank you. Then her car breaks down and she has to go back in and just as he's walking out and she's walking in he sees on her face that something wrong so, he asks. She explains to him about her car and it just so happens he’s a mechanic, a profession he was forced into only after not being able to really get through school, not by his own choosing. He takes the car to his shop, he fixes her car and bam! They
fall in love."

"Hm...I guess, but that is incredibly farfetched. By enormous margins." He didn't really seem impressed with my story.

"Ok, let’s go find out what happened then." I got up from the bench and motioned towards the couple.

"...what?" He seemed confused. "I don't really want to disturb them just to hear a really long story about how they met."

"It’s not like we are doing much of anything else let’s just go over quickly and see how they got together."

"....fine." Hesitantly we both walked over to the couple and introduced ourselves.

"Afternoon sir, ma'am. My friend and I were just very curious on how you two met and how long you've been together if you don't mind us asking." I tried to be as polite as possibly so I could make sure I didn't say anything stupid.

"Absolutely! It’s not a very long one." The man gave a hearty chuckle. They seemed pretty, well...alive, for older people. “We grew up together, just so happens our parents had a baby at the same time and they were also neighbors. We were born a few days apart so we were always together. By the time we started growing up we knew everything about each other, eventually we fell in love at a young age, got separated for a little while since her family moved and we just kind of lost contact but, you know how love works. It will always find a way to bring two people back together if it’s meant to be. Later in life we wound up dropping out from the same college in California and we met at the local restaurant near the college. We really didn't even know at the time, there was a girl crying one table over from me and I felt bad. I didn't really care what she looked like I just felt bad so I told the waitress that whatever she ordered would be on me. It was just nice to hear her stop crying." he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "I actually just was trying to figure out what I was gonna say to my parents when I got back home so I stayed there a little longer than I should have. As I was looking out the window I saw the same girl come running back towards the restaurant after getting out of her car so I knew something was wrong, I figured I would try to woo her by being manly and there for her...but I didn't know a lick about cars. I walked over to the entrance as if I was leaving and waited for her to get close to the door and then I opened it and as she bolted in I stopped her and asked if everything was ok, pretty neat trick right?" He laughed and smiled at us.

"He was a real charmer...even though he didn't know a lick about anything" She leaned in on his shoulder.

"So anyways, as I gained her attention she told me everything that was going on with her car. I explained to her that I had a friend who was a mechanic I could get her a pretty decent discount on the car blah blah blah, that's not important. After we talked about it for a little bit, we introduced ourselves. I told her my name and she told me her name and my heart dropped. We didn't recognize each other at all since we got separated before high school, puberty and all. We just kind of stood there for a minute and then immediately I got down on one knee and I told her 'I have nothing and I know nothing except for the fact that I love you. I don't know if you're in a relationship, what your life has been like but this is fate and I need you to be a part of my life. Please, will you marry me.'"

"And I was stupid enough and silly enough to say yes." She raised her left hand to show her beautiful wedding ring, then on her right hand she raised it to show a promise ring of sorts. "This is what he bought me that same day from a toy store since we were both broke and desperate and I've loved it just as much if not more than my wedding ring." They embraced in a simple kiss and smiled at each other.

"Wow...thank you both so much for sharing such a wonderful story that was beautiful. That truly sounds like fate that you two are together." I thanked them and we walked away. Happy.

"I guess...not everything is random." Tim grudgingly admitted.

"Well...the fact that we picked the only couple in the park that probably had a story like that...you might have been on to something, who knows... Maybe we were supposed to talk to them.“ With all this talk about randomness and what have you it was funny that ever since we got to college and we all met, we've been sitting at the bench as if it was ours, as if it belonged to us. Like it was there just waiting for the few of us to be pulled towards it, it was definitely interesting. I guess maybe the same thing could have happened to any random group of college kids, who knows. It was getting late though, so we decided to call it a day.