6/19/2014

the man who lost is not

The girl fell.
The boy is falling.
The team in the yellow uniforms won.
The man who lost is sad.

Nick paused the program. The red light of dusk sliced the screen, orphaning the kanji for sad from the rest of the sentence and basking the image of the lost man in a violent, pained crimson. For an instant, Nick was on the field with him, confused and forlorn, sputtering in Japanese,doushitandesuka, in English, don't be sad, I reject this equation, the man who lost, don't be sad! The winning team in the yellow uniform glowered from the screen, cheap dated stock photography, and the field evaporated as Nick blinked in his seat at the desk, absent of awareness that he'd been away. He unpaused the program and waited for the next exercise.