the fifth foundational force

Salito and Taki 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 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 the Gulf of Mexico along the coastal road.

“Wow,” whistled Salito softly, “Do you think the great whale is there?”

“Maybe,” whispered Taki. “I 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.

They hold everything together.

They bring order.

They cause chaos.

Four of them can be explained by physics.

They are the GRAVITATIONAL force, the ELECTROMAGNETIC force, the WEAK force and the STRONG force.

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

The electromagnetic force causes electricity, information in computers, and connection. It underlies the mighty power of lightning and the gentle touch of the human hand.

The weak force brings nuclear energy. It makes stars shine.

The strong force holds quarks inside protons and neutrons and holds protons and neutrons inside  atoms.

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

It can only be explained by friendship.

It is love.

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

“Let’s go to the water,” said Taki.

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

“Okay,” whistled Salito. “To the water,then.”

They reached out for each other’s hands.

They walked down the road toward the gulf together.

This created the fifth foundational force. It keeps hearts in orbit around each other. It builds up instead of breaks down. It is life itself.

They stepped around and over heavy machinery, steel girders and concrete blocks, tools being used to build a border wall that would separate Brownsville from Matamoros, The United States from it’s southern neighbors, human beings from human beings.

As the two children stood hand in hand, very still and very quiet, they wondered if the fifth foundational force was really the strongest of all.