physics of friendship

Little Salt and Taki looked out the window of the Grehound 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.

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

“Wow,” whistled Little Salt softly, “Do you think the lost 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 Little Salt 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.

Four of them can be explained by the science of 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, our feet firmly planted on the ground, and whales submerged in the deep, blue seas.

The electromagnetic force causes electricity 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 cannot be explained by physics, though.

It can only be explained by friendship.

It is love.

Taki and Little Salt 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 Little Salt. “To the water, then.”

They reached out for each other’s hands.

They walked down the road toward the gulf together.

This created that 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 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, they hoped the fifth foundational force was really the strongest of all.