Klara and the Colored Wind

"What if I told you that the world was about to end?"

I had been staring into my drink, trying to ignore the loud music, when a voice interrupted my reverie.

"The world is always ending," I replied without looking up. "That's what it does."

The man laughed. "Yes, but this time... This time it really was going to happen."

"Everybody dies," I said. "It's just a matter of physiology. Some people get better at this than others."

"Not like this, though. It would be sudden, unexpected. It would wipe out every living thing in one fell swoop." He paused for effect. "Except for two people."

I glanced up at him, smiling at the look on his face. "Who are these lucky two?"

"You and me," he said with a grin, his eyes sparkling mischievously in the dim light of the bar. His gaze pierced mine as he continued: "We will survive because we have been chosen by a goat to carry on humanity's legacy."

"A goat?" I asked, scornfully laughing at his preposterous claim. "You're out of your mind."

He smiled knowingly and reached into his breast pocket where he retrieved a small folded piece of paper that he handed over to me. As I unfolded it, I could see that it was an image of a cartoonish goat wearing colorful wings and carrying what looked like gold bars strapped to its back. What were the odds that someone else would randomly share this same delusion? Were there more?

At my side, the man nodded at me encouragingly as I studied the picture, confused and bewildered by what I was witnessing. Even stranger than the mental patient sitting next to me was the fact that I didn't know how else to react other than to keep listening to him talk about his imaginary friend named Lucky-Goat-Gold-Bars or whatever that damn thing was called!

"So where did you meet this goat?" I asked after some time had passed in silence. He seemed fine with answering my questions, so why not? Maybe it would be entertaining? And who knew? Maybe if I heard him out long enough, he would explain himself so well that I'd start believing in him too! After all, stranger things have happened before: One minute you're drinking alone in a bar and then suddenly you're talking about goats with someone who thinks he's from outer space! On second thought: Don't go there! Absolutely don't go down that path! That's how lunatics are made! They start small and then their delusions grow until they're convinced they're Jesus Christ reincarnated or something equally ridiculous! No thank you! Not today! Not ever! Fuck no! Never ever again! Shit no!! Screw that shit!!