Not being able to deal with the odd situation, Javier begins to
It was strange how he and this man were positioned in a completely alien environment. For some reason, Javier could not envision their having any kind of substantial conversation in the real world. Meanwhile, Javier longed for his children, to see the joy on their faces when daddy would return home from work. The adolescent pinings he had for Sylvia, they seem distant, even illusory. Sylvia's last words to him rattled around in his ribcage like a snare drum to his soul: "Javier, you can never be a real man. You can't even provide for your own children." Tears began flowing down his cheeks as the college student looked on. Javier suddenly fell into a hypnotic, trance-like state.
Awakening. Javier sat there patiently as the man was thinking about things like Adolf Hitler, Jungian thought, metaphysics, evolution theory and other academic subjects. Though trying to avoid pedantic discussion, Javier began feeling the need to examine his own subjectivity. "How am I dealing with people who, of no fault of their own, can only look at me from the outside?", Javier thought to himself. "Is there some universal signifier I can possess which can convince others of my underlying goodness? Do i have control over my superficial aesthetic?" The young man looked downcast as he could feel Javier was not really listening to a word he was saying. Javier could not help but feel ashamed of himself. In boldness he said to the man, "Yo, I just want you to know that I think you're alright. You are beloved of God."
The man abruptly turned away from Javier, picked up his stuff, and ran towards an exit out of the sewer. By this time, morning had broken and rays of sunlight shone into the sewer through gutters in the busy street above. Javier felt a renewed sense of self-affirming will. He would not leave the sewer until he could lay out his entire belief system and accept it fully. He would continue to live by his own timetable, not deferring to the societal expectations that would be placed on him in modern culture. Meanwhile, having escaped from the sewer, the man cleaned himself up and resumed his role as a college student on leave. He eventually enters a stone building on the corner inscribed with the letters "YMCA". The University of Chicago stands out rigid against the skyline, approximately 12 blocks to the north.