Billions of years ago eternity collided with finite space and time, causing an explosion, which then spread energy and matter into the vast nothingness, forming the cosmos and the galaxies. And inside one of the galaxies, many solar systems formed, and in one with a moderate-sized star, a planet cooled, oceans were formed, volcanoes created rich soil, and inside the oceans life finessed its way into being, first as simple cell organisms, then as fish, amphibians, insects, birds, all kinds of creatures that walked upon the land, until one of these creatures, a species known as Homo sapien, a mammal, came into being and processed a large brain and opposable thumbs, and used these, as well as other advantages, to bring a sort of pseudo-order to his environment out of the chaos that had once dominated all life, and he used this pseudo-order and learned science, the hows and whys of existence, and furthermore learned that if you mix a gelatin powder with water, place it in a small round bowl, with or without fruit chunks, and chill overnight, in the morning you will have a soft wiggly rubber-like substance that you can eat.
And the miracle of it is: it still sucks.
James Valvis lives in Issaquah, Washington. His work has appeared in Atlanta Review, Crab Creek Review, Eclectica, Hanging Loose, Nimrod, Rattle, Slipstream, and is forthcoming in Arts & Letters, H_NGM_N, Los Angeles Review, New York Quarterly, Pank, River Styx, Yellow Mama, and elsewhere.
