“It was beautiful. Some would disagree though,” the man smoking the tobacco pipe said to his friend as they were seated.
The two men were sitting around a rectangular coffee table inside the abode of the man with the pipe. The radiant sun was allowed through the windows with ease.
“Can you describe it in great detail?” said the guest.
They were drinking coffee and were both almost finished with their cups.
“Yes of course!” said the man, “But first, would you like some more coffee?”
“That would be wonderful, thank you.”
The home is filled with a great many exotic and off-world trifles, trinkets and whatnots from cultures and places the guest had not even heard of.
As the man was away, the guest could not have helped but notice jars of sand on one of the ornament shelves. He walks over and inspects them.
He notices the differences between the sands; the colors, how coarse they looked, the size of the grains. The color of the sand varied from jar to jar. Some jars had yellow sand, some white, some orange, red, black, brown. Each jar held sand that was generally one color.
The man with the pipe returns, says, “Ahh, I see you’ve found my sand collection.”
“Yes, and quite the collection it is! Though I don’t know much, it looks very impressive.”
“Why thank you, Quant. Your comments are much appreciated. Those are sands from many places. Most from different planets.”
“Which jar is your favorite?” Quant asked.
“I can’t really say. They are all wonderful.”
“Oh.”
“Yes. What was it that you asked earlier? Can I describe it?”
“Yes! You just got back from this excursion! I would like to know of your experience.”
“Please, I would prefer ‘trek’. Excursion implies that I had an external motive, or maybe that I was searching for something,” said the man with the pipe. “I visit them because of their vast and magnificent beauty. You could say that I have an affinity.”
“Is there any reason why you like them so much?”
“I just do. I am just drawn to certain aspects. Such as their vast expansion of dryness. Almost no life in sight. Stretching out across mile after mile.”
“Oh.”
“Yes. But this particular one that I had visited was… slightly different. As you may know, I have frequented a great many of them. Though this one was just as barren and surreal, it gave me a sense of... familiarity, as if I were somehow home.”
“How so?”
“I felt like I had been there. Many, many times.”
“Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. You know I’ve never been to one.”
“I shall take you next time I go! You would be in awe of some of the sights that I have seen.”
“That would be lovely! I would appreciate that a great deal, thank you.”
“It is not a problem,” replied the man with the pipe.
“Did you bring any sand back from the one that you just visited?”
“Yes of course! As always.”
The man with the pipe stands up and walks to the other room. He comes back out with a jar of sand and brings it back to the room where the guest still sits.
“I was planning on putting it with the other jars today. It will add to my collection quite nicely.”