Never Always Sometimes

by Adi Alsaid

“Human beings are more or less formulas. Pun intended. We are not any one thing that is mathematically provable. We are more more or less than we are anything.” He massaged his mustache for a second. “We are more or less kind, or more or less not. More or less selfish, happy, wise, lonely. Just like things are rarely always true or never true, we aren’t ever exactly one thing or another. We are more or less. “It’s like that in our love lives, too. We like to think we’re formulas that even out exactly, that we are perfect matches with each other. But we’re not. We match up with lots of people, more or less.” Julia groaned. “That’s deep, but how is that helpful?” Marroney laughed, just as the bell rang, the sound muted by the tree house walls but still an insistent cue to leave. Julia stood up, brushed herself off as Marroney uncapped his pen. “The equation might not balance out, even if you and Dave are more or less a match.” He gave her a smile, then turned back to his papers. “Think about it.”