I wrote this story called "Tidy Sums." It's these two people having a discussion about how people only say "It's like how two and two make four." They don't say anything else. They don't say "It's like how three and six make nine." They're having that conversation, and it becomes this whole other thing, while still being what it was. This is from it.
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Two plus two is so simple a child could get it. That’s probably who it’s most for. How it got started.
Two adults plus two kids—a family. The perfect for them family, maybe. I wonder if when people who are in a family like that with that many people think about themselves and their family if they use or hear that expression.
Probably. It’s like when you hear a song and your name is in it, you kind of feel like they’re singing to you or about you or that it's meant for you.
And two what? That’s always left out. There’s a big difference between blades of grass and lives. Or loves. Dreams. Dreams made up of parts.
Not when you’re just doing the math, though.
No, not when you’re just doing the math.
If you did steal from him, he’d forgive you.
What are you talking about now?
Paul. To pay Peter.
Yeah, he would. If he wasn’t a hypocrite. That’s sort of the main thing. Forgiveness.
I thought it was contrition.
Actually, yeah, that’s probably more important. But forgiveness gets more attention.
Ballyhooed.
Now they say that when you forgive someone you’re really doing it for you and not them. It’s really so that you can move forward. Which doesn’t at all seem in the spirit of the piece.
You need another term. A third term. Forgiveness, contrition, and this other thing when it’s applicable.
What about just moving on?
That doesn’t sound like there’s enough closure in it. A cop pulled me over this one time because I had my front license plate on the back and my back license plate on the front. He didn’t give me a ticket but he said to go straight home and fix it. He wrapped up by saying “You can move on,” and it wasn’t like I was done. There was more for me to go and do.
I see what you’re saying. If you did rob Peter to pay Paul, you’d have to figure they knew it was you, because it’s not like they wouldn’t talk. One just coincidentally is missing the same amount of money that the other received in the paying off of a debt? And there you are, having a cup of coffee with them.
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