The Last Analects of Jasper James Kaufmann

7. Winter

Jasper did not see Petra for a few weeks. He went about living his usual secluded life, going to school and taking care of the bare necessities. It became winter.

He sat in his bedroom staring at the Dali print. Suddenly he remembered its name. The Persistence of Memory. Pretty fitting, he thought. If only he could revere the future as much as he did the past. Somewhere in between was the today, the now, but it was so hard to grasp. He remembered a thought he'd had during his last math class and went to his desk to write it down. He pulled out his legal pad and a pen.

"There is no such thing as the number two. The limit of x as x approaches two, is two. But two itself does not exist. Similarly, there is no such thing as now, or here for that matter. They are useful concepts, but nothing more."

It was snowing. Jasper loved snow. It reminded him very much of his childhood in Ohio. He remembered eagerly attending to the weather report on winter nights, hoping and praying for the announcement of a snow day in the morning. If his wish came to fruition, he'd spend the next day playing outside in his large backyard. Even when he got older and had to help shovel the driveway, he still adored the snow just as much.

The phone rang.

"Hello, Jasper speaking," he intoned, although he already knew who it was.

"Hi, JJ. Sorry. I mean, hi, Jasper."

"Hey, Petra. What's up?"

"I'm pretty good, and you? We haven't seen each other in a little while."

"I know."

"Do you want to get together this weekend, before the semester ends?"

"Sure. Want to come over... Saturday?"

"I would like that. How does two o'clock sound?"

"That works. I'll make lunch."

"Great. See you soon, Jasper."

Saturday afternoon came, and Petra knocked on the door at exactly two o'clock. Jasper opened it and she entered, wearing very dark lipstick this time. She also appeared to have had her orange bangs trimmed a little.

"Well, if it isn't the lady of the hour," said Abelard.

"Hi, Abelard. Hi, Jasper."

"How have you been?" asked Jasper. "How's the end of the semester treating you?"

"Pretty well. I've been working on some papers. I won't bore you with the details, but that's why I haven't been in touch."

"You could have called her," pointed out Abelard. "You have her number."

"It's fine, it's fine," said Petra, dismissing Abelard's comment with a wave of her hand. "I'm sure Jasper's been busy, too."

"No matter," said Jasper. "I have a few finals this week, and then I'm headed back to the United States for the holiday break."

"You must be looking forward to that," said Petra. "Seeing your parents and your friends."

"There are some friends I'm looking forward to seeing. Richard, for example. And Martin Austen. As I've mentioned, my social life back home was a lot more active than it is here, for whatever reason."

"Well, that's where you're most comfortable. It was a big change for you, coming here. I'm sure the same thing would happen to me if I moved to a new country."

"I doubt that. I think you could fit in anywhere. Anyway, let me get lunch started."

He walked to the kitchen area and pulled a wok out of a cupboard, then retrieved some items from the refrigerator. He drizzled some olive oil into the wok and chopped up some garlic and ginger and threw it in. When that had cooked he added broccoli, red bell pepper, and tofu. Finally he sprinkled dried basil and turmeric onto the concoction and mixed the whole thing together with a wooden spoon.