Chapter 9: Stop asking why and just do

(Mar 2023)

"Why are we utilizing frog? Paper in Nature Medicine says a few minutes of consumption, vomiting, facial edema, palpitations and hypotension can occur!" Tri asked, alarmed. His voice cracked throughout his question. Tri was confused about the experiment and wanted to ask more questions. But he was too caught up in not looking stupid.

"At some point, you got to stop asking why, and just do." Andrei said with a Slavic accent. He used a wooden stick, apparently from a popsicle he had eaten earlier, to scrape the frog.

Andrei had no time for bullshit. He was thin, without a smile. He had almost no hair. He was devoid of colour.

When Tri was just a small persimmon, his cousin moved into an apartment. He was sensitive to noise and had a bad time. Tri’s family told him to move out. Rather, his cousin tried to solve his own problems using first principles. He created a mathematical model of sound, and studied the genetics and biology of hearing. He claimed to be a "man of science” and didn’t take anyone’s advice.

Too many years passed and he was still in school with a self-reinforcing misery. He became instead a t-shirt reseller who lived off of his girlfriend’s trust fund.

Tri was disappointed to be connected to that stubborn persimmon. That’s when he first realized the importance of being logical without sacrificing pragmatism. He vowed to be radically independent by achieving mastery.

Tri glanced at the tank. Clumps of slimy creatures rested on the rocks.

Tri knocked the glass. Most of the dark clumps have stopped moving. He shook his head and moved on.

...

"Cyrus!"

Cyrus was typing furiously on a laptop. He turned his head. Tri came smiling and empty-handed. Cyrus ignored him and kept typing away.

Tri walked in uninvited and moved to the garden. Cyrus tracked the persimmon with the remains of his eyes. Tri started to pull on the door clumsily.

"Tri, I have no more. Sold all of them." Cyrus said.

"What?" Tri's voice cracked as Cyrus promised to keep some frogs last month. "Cyrus, who corrupted your soul..."

Tri was shaking Cyrus at the intensity of electrocution. After, Cyrus reached into his pockets nonchalantly and put on a mask.

Cyrus' dark eyes stared into the depth of the universe under thick dense brows.

Tri stared back, although he didn’t know at what.

"I have a meeting in 2 minutes," Cyrus said. He shut his laptop and stood up at the same time, stepping briskly out the door. Tri followed him outside, but Cyrus walked so fast that Tri couldn't even catch up by running. His tall figure disappeared at the end of the street.

No way Tri’s suffering more punches from Andrei!

Tri needed frogs for the experiment.

Tri yelled at the empty alley, clenching his fists. He yelled some more and kicked a trash can. The trash collapsed and came raining down on him. It scarred his persimmon skin.

Tri stared back despite the pain. If gaze transmitted temperature, the junkyard would be in flames. There would be a day when Tri could do whatever he wanted because he felt like it.