so reckless you might start feeling; beth

[bethlehem]

I can get there on my own. you can leave me here alone.

He is oblivious to the crack in their foundation.
If it could even be considered something so minuscule.
It would perhaps be better described as a sink hole waiting to swallow them all.

But she has played her secret close to the chest. He has not had any reason to be suspicious. He has no idea that the ground he’s walking on is a minefield. When he glances at her and asks his question, it is innocent. He does not know that he’s walking into a pit of vipers.

Or perhaps he’s not. Perhaps her reason has nothing at all to do with the secret she has kept from him. Perhaps when he looks at her and says, “what is your reason?” Her answer will not shake the earth. It will not absolutely obliterate whatever equilibrium he has managed to maintain for these last few months.

Maybe they will go on walking, edging toward the forest, unperturbed and unfettered by the dragons and he will never know what she knows. Or, at the very least, he will go on living his life in absolute ignorance for a little while longer.

He wonders what his own reason might be but comes up with nothing. He has never been good at the intangibles. He has never known how to entertain philosophy and he, already out of his depth, is floundering now. If she asks him what he thinks, he will not be able to answer. But maybe he’ll promise to spend the rest of his life trying to figure it out. Or maybe he’ll just shrug and he won’t say anything at all.

BETHLEHEM

I'm just tryin' to do what's right. oh, a man ain't a man unless he's fought the fight.