Contiguity
noun: the state of bordering or being in contact with something - written before Covid, I just saw the future, that's all...
In a land, where everyone feared loneliness, no one stood, walked, worked or slept without grazing, pushing or hanging on to a neighbour.
No one moved unless in couples, packs, clusters, clumps. In cars, drivers were hugged from the back seat, with two people sat on their knees. In the café, the shower, and the operating room, dozens of bodies filtered across and around in close association. The land of contiguity. People in continuous connection.
But that is very silly I hear you cry!
You protest that no place could ever work like that. Everyone needs their privacy. We like to be on our own. I am on my own now reading this story you tell me. Everyone is out, and I’m curled up by the fire. And later, even if you are sat on a park bench in a busy part of town, if someone looked over your shoulder, to try and read these words, you would get very angry. You would stop reading. You would move away. You might glare at them.
Perhaps you would even make a scene and a carry-on, demanding some justice for this insult. Only lovers, family, and friends are allowed that close. And strangers yes, but only when you are forced to on public transport. You would add this caveat, to make sure I didn’t catch you out.
But take a leap, a risk. You are reading but in a library this time. You drop a book, and three people lower themselves with you to pick it up. Accidentally, one of your close companions kicks your book farther under the shelf than is comfortable to reach.
