San Carlos Youth

The Dramatic Story of the Chair

As told by Gabe

 

The chair sat in the corner of the room. It had never been anywhere but the corner of the room. It was once a great tree, a log, an assistant to whomever chose it as a place to rest. It had been carved in that corner - by whom it could not recall. It was hard for it to think that far back. The chair knew nowhere else. It was content with its life. But one day they had left. The chair had no concept of time, and thus did not know how long the people had been gone. But the abandonment - it felt terrible. He felt lonely, and he tracked the passing of time by the increasing pain in his chest. He was desperate and nostalgic for those timeless days of sitting in the corner. Because he was not alone, before. He had thought nothing of it. In fact, he hadn’t thought much at all. He thought back to those times and couldn’t remember any feelings as strong as this one. He hadn’t had many feelings, either.

 

And then the people returned. He was filled with joy. But they didn’t seem to have missed him. He was confused. Didn’t the people need him? Didn’t they sit on him every day? Why did they seem fine after being away from him? Suddenly, he began to feel the sourness of this non-mutual relationship. He began to develop a bitter hate for the people, who seemed to know no empathy. But there was nothing he could do. They could not hear him think, and he could not speak. The anger hardened him. He began forgot time. He stopped thinking so often and so much. He began to forget the sour feeling.

 

In fact, it could not remember any feeling at all.