little salt, little light

 little salt, little light

They looked out the window of the bus together, side by side, cheek to cheek.

The heat and humidity of the Brownsville morning and the air conditioning on the Greyhound bus caused the windows to fog.

Salito pulled his sleeve over his hand and used it as a kind of window wiper, moving it back and forth until he and Taki could see clearly the Gulf of Mexico along the coastal road.

“Wow,” whistled Salito softly, “maybe 52 Blue is there.”*

“Maybe,” whispered Taki. “I sure hope so.”

People began to stir and stretch and reach for their bags above and around them, but Salito and Taki stayed as still and quiet as the leaves on the trees that lined the street beside the bus station.

There are five foundational forces in the universe, you know.

They hold everything together. 

Sometimes they bring order.

 Sometimes they cause chaos.

Four of them can be explained by physics.

The gravitational force.

The electromagnetic force.

The weak force.

 And the strong force.

The gravitational force keeps planets in orbit around their suns and our feet planted firmly on the Earth.

The electromagnetic force brings electricity, information technology, and connection - it is behind the mighty power of lightning and the gentle touch of the human hand.

The weak force brings nuclear power and makes stars shine.

The strong force holds protons and neutrons inside of atoms.

The fifth foundational force can’t be explained by physics, though.

It is love.

Taki and Salito stepped off of the bus into the early morning sunlight.

“Well, let’s go” she said. “Or maybe I should say, ‘Whale,’ let’s go.”

She looked at the horizon between the Gulf of Mexico and the Brownsville sky. 

Salito looked at the horizon, too.

He was silent, as always.

Yet his eyes and his heart spoke.

They reached out for each other’s hands.

“Come on, Little Salt,” said Taki, Little Light.

They walked down the road toward the big water of the gulf.

This created that fifth foundational force, which is the strongest force of all, for it keeps hearts in orbit around each other and gives the possibility of finding lost things.

*If you’re interested in learning more out about 52 Blue, you can read the article written by the wonderful writer Leslie Jamison here - https://magazine.atavist.com/52-blue