01.09

Let us do an experiment, Gaia said to Kristen. Sit in front of me, she said and look at me in the eyes and do not stop. Kristen did exactly what Gaia asked, she laid down her pen, pushed back her chair a little, laid her hands in her lap and looked directly in front of her, where Gaia was sitting. Gaia did the same. They said nothing. Time passed slowly. Gaia’s eyes unwavered, Kristen seemed restless, her hands could not be still in her lap. Gaia smiled, Kristen smiled back. Then time stopped. It froze as the minds connected. Gaia could feel the pain that crossed Kristen’s mind, although she could not name it. Kristen’s mind quieted down until she was undisturbed. Neither diverted her look. Gaia kept smiling and Kristen felt urged to respond, still she could not smile freely, not until she dived in Gaia’s mind through her eyes. Gaia was first to penetrate Kristen’s mind. She saw the pain and smiled. She did not know the name of the pain and thus ignored it. She recognized that the pain did not matter, that it could survive only if enough care was given to it. She moved ahead and found a funny, caring, sensible person that feels the nuances of life as well as anybody. She saw what her mother saw when she wrote music, she could even hear the music her mother heard in her mind. Gaia cried and smiled at Kristen and she saw through Gaia’s eyes the care, the hunger, the love and the loneliness and her pain and her music and cried and smiled back.