The Present In My Mind

Christmas was getting closer. Everything had become tinsel-ized. The present in my mind eclipsed anything else that might have been there.

The present . . . the answer! The present beyond all presents, designed just for me. A present so perfect that no other present would ever be needed, or wanted.

A present – of total fulfillment and meaning – filling in all the blanks and all the unknowns. A gift, like a vacation – a hiatus – putting on hold the repetitious mishmash of every typical day.

A cure-all, a perfect tangent, an apparatus to filter out everything that is substandard. A wrapped box brimming with all that makes my heart dance, a captured chunk of enlightenment to be cherished forever. A masterful amalgamation of completeness.

The ribbon was slowly removed. The top, ever so lightly, lifted. I readied myself to watch the spectacle unfold.

As the top was moved aside, the contents revealed its importance. As if it was the only present in existence, it extinguished every other thought. When it was tilted for maximum inspection, it’s true nature was exposed.

At first glance it appeared to be a swirling, abstract stew. But if a word was brought to mind, it would appear. Car? There’s a red convertible, now ten, now every conceivable car possible. Stream? There’s a bubbling brook, now it’s almost a river, now ten streams, now every stream possible. Any word, any concept, they were all in there.

A mighty pause came. A pause of no words, a pause in search of meaning, a pause of incredulity.

A look back inside the box revealed that it now contained – nothing. There was no thing there. Another look and everything was again visible and intact. Then – nothing – again. Then everything.

A moment later the box just disappeared, vanished, leaving nothing but an uncertain memory.

Amidst the other discarded wrappings was the red ribbon that adorned the present.

I looked at the shadow it was casting . . .

just to be sure.