The principle idea behind meteorologist Edward Lorenz’s “Chaos Theory” speculates that the brief flutter of a butterfly’s wings can evolve into air currents capable of creating a hurricane 10,000 miles away.
Well, if you can believe it, her name really was “Fifi.” She was 12 years old, just like me; and I thought she was beautiful.
Fifi... and Secrets
Years ago, my maternal grandparents swapped residences for a month with friends who lived on a small Greek island. Consequently, all involved parties enjoyed cheap, yet memorable vacations. The Hellenic friends got a cozy, three-story house in New England, while our family – grandparents, my mother and I, an aunt, an uncle, and two cousins – stayed at a minimalist, yet spacious former pistachio farm.
I was bored and driven a little nuts by so many family members who were also bored. But as the undiagnosed kid on the spectrum who was enduring typical school pains back home, I also felt liberated, and grateful for such a dramatic change in scenery.
Fifi worked at the ticket window of her family’s small movie theatre. And when I would walk or bike the two miles along the coast into town, Fifi could be seen on my right from the dirt road as it opened up onto the whole port. In the frame of my vision she existed as a bored, motionless oddity amidst a sea of activity; forced to sit in her tiny shed, surrounded by commerce – the unloading of small fishing boats, fast hands and loud voices in the open market, and on certain days, the sound of waves falling on the docks to my left.
Click here to read the whole article.