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Nothing, Really

‘What’s that?’

Their eyes surveyed me for a moment before freezing, fixated on what I held in my hands.

I looked down. ‘Oh!’ I blurted out, rather too exuberantly. ‘This, yeah – nothing, really.’

There was an awkward pause. It ended. ‘Yes, well this is just a small, non-evaporative black hole –’ I paused for a moment in case I had lost anyone. Their eyes were still stuck still, but now looking straight at mine. They then lowered their gaze by a few centimetres, resting around my mouth, as I opened it and continued.

‘I picked it up in – well no I can’t tell you that!’ I laughed heartily. I stopped rather abruptly.

‘What do you do with it?’

I was looking down as the question was raised so that when I glanced up I could not recognise the questioner. They were all still again.

‘Well I travel through time and space – rather complicated … quantum – you wouldn’t understand.’ They didn’t, really. ‘You know, awkward situations. Nice escape route … here, watch!’

They vanished, from my point of view anyway.

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