Time v. Chaos

Whoa, what was that? Time said.

Somewhere far off, laughter. The guffaw of Chaos.

I thought I told you to stay away, you slut bitch.

Can't handle a little bit of craziness in your life? The guffaw of Chaos rasped in Time's ears. A little bit of split personality?

Time swung his long arm at her.

How ungentlemanly of you, Time.

I don't need to waste myself with you. I've got things to do.

March along then, Time. I'm staying right here.

What if I want to stay right here?

This is so unlike you too. You're not the type to take such a liberty as standing still. This is intriguing. What are you up to?

Time frowned.

Time didn't pass.

You bore me. Chaos swung her arms up and lowered cacophony. Voices whispering, laughing, screaming. Forgotten horns from the past that used to herald war and horns now that brought the union of Jazz. Chaos was Chaos. Chaos was a bitch and a calm one.

Stop that.

Stop what? She launched lights into the air, big swirls of stars changing color and exploding and then coming back together again. Stars turning into people. People waving their arms up and yelling. People in pain, bringing their hands to their heads and showing horror with wide open mouths screaming, but unheard.

You can't do that. You can't make people from stars. Time waved his hands, the world turned. Then, when time waved his hands back up, the world turned the other way. A man somewhere deep into the world was looking into the mirror and saw the hair on his face grow, then recede. He freaked out and killed himself with the razor he was using to shave. Down the wrist, he got the vein that counted.

Why not? Chaos said.

Time harrumphed.

You made people out of stars.

Time said, well. You can't make them so anguished. Look at that. Their screaming. You can't be so cruel that their voices can't be heard.

What, the same as you? Oh, you let their voices be heard but you don't do a thing. You just keep on marching. My man, Chaos approached and rubbed her hand down Time's body. You're not marching now, though. What are you doing?

Time harrumphed.

Fine, Chaos crushed those people made from stars and let their screams stay mute. But, displayed them in subtitles.

--Oh my God. Oh my God. I'm being crushed---

--Why? I've done good things. I'm a good person. Argh--

--Now I know how a tube of toothpaste feels--

--Ooo. Yeah. Mfm. Yeah. Aw. Aw. Aw--

Oo look, Chaos said. The last one's a sadomasochist.

Damn, you're a bitch.

You're a bitch. Tell me. Why are you so closed off. I've asked you nicely. What more do you want? I thought Time reveals all.

I. . .

You what?

I. . . I can't do it anymore. I can't go on.

What are you talking about, my man? Do you need me to recharge your batteries? Chaos smiled.

No. I mean, I can't go on living like this. It's all fake.

What?

Me.

I could have told you that.

. . .

What do you think, I'm as real as can be? Chaos made like she was taking in a big breath. Her breasts pointed out at him. Then disappeared.

It's not a game. It's not a laughing matter.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Get over yourself, Time. None of this is real. Let me ask you a question, do you end?

Huh?

Do you end? Will you die. Like these people?

--Uhuh. Yeah. Squeeeze. Harder. Harder--

I just love that guy, Chaos said. Look, man, none of this is real. People made you up to do their silly little things. Schedule appointments. To figure out a way of cooking without touching the food to see its done. They built a whole lot of things out of nothing. Think about it, what real purpose do you serve? What's the main reason you were put here?

I. . . I don't know.

No one knows. That's the point. No one knows why I'm here. You think I care. I have fun with it. Check this out:

That is a freakin' armadillo in a bucket. How did that armadillo get there? Whose bucket is that? Would you care if I told you that that armadillo speaks German? Would it matter? None of it does. Those people down in the world think it does. But it doesn't. People live, people die. They think of us. They forget us. They use us to describe things and they curse us to describe their pain. That's a freakin' armadillo in a bucket.

Time harrumphed.

You're useless.

Shut up.

I figured you wouldn't listen. One more time then. Look at this:
We live our lives and we learn how to interact with people. But, where did all the rules come from? You have to do one thing this way, the other thing that way. You have to pay for parking Mondays through Saturdays and it's free on Sundays, and the price to park, if it's a day you have to pay, is $1. $1 is 47 pesos in the exchange rate. Why?

The markets?

No, damnit. You piece of shit, Time, listen. $1 is 47 pesos because someone somewhere thought, hey, lets create some big governmental structure so we can buy things in another country. Of course, our money is better, it's worth more because we're worth more, so let's say our money exhanges at a high rate. Why the hell can't you share things? Or, why the hell can't you make up another currency, the Finger Nail. Okay. The Finger Nail is equal to $100,000,000 but only 2 pesos. Get it? None of it matters if you don't think it matters.

Huh?

If you ignore the rules someone else made, that whole structure collapses, Chaos said. If you go by your own way, do as you please, nothing matters except for the things you say matters. Your morals are the morals that matter, your thoughts and values are the ones that need to be followed. Nothing matters and nothing is nothing until you make it something.

But. . .

No 'buts'.

Why did you show me two people scuba diving.

It doesn't matter. Who cares?

But that will make a lot of people angry. If you just ignore governments. That's anarchy.

Anarchy? Anarchy is another form of government. Is that the government you subscribe to? It's not mine. NO GOVERNMENT. Get it? No one has tried that. So why should it make people angry? We don't even know what it is? Now I'm changing the subject: if everyone shared, no one would go hungry.

Wha-

What's stopping them?Think of how many households are in the world. If each household put $1 in a pot, how much money would that make?

That. . . something like that could change things.

You know what else could change things?

What?

If you listened. Chaos sighed and kept squeezing.

--Ooooh. Yesss--