Horizon’s Sandwich

Jay Kenneth

Once upon a time there was a ten-year-old girl alone in a supermarket making a sandwich. She had just been let out of school for the day, but she didn’t take the bus home as she usually did. That was because her routine for the day had already been interrupted by another event: this little girl’s neighbour and best friend, Jenny, hadn’t been at school that day. So the little girl who was Jenny’s best friend had no one to eat lunch with, and she didn’t eat lunch at all. At the end of the day the little girl was very hungry for having skipped lunch and more than anything she wanted to end the pain in her stomach that Jenny’s absence had caused, and so this ten year old girl went to the supermarket to make herself a sandwich.

Now a ten year old girl deciding by herself to go to a supermarket is a very unusual thing. It might seem to you like a lot of trouble to go through to buy all of the ingredients of a sandwich and assemble it, instead of simply going to a shop that sells sandwiches. But this little girl knew only that food was in supermarkets, so that’s where she went. And besides, she didn’t mind buying the ingredients, because she had no understanding that she needed to purchase them and so she just took what she wanted off the shelves. That raises the question of how exactly this little girl found the ingredients she wanted. After all, if you imagine what a supermarket seems like to a small child, you imagine that it must be a terribly puzzling place, with shelves reaching up well beyond reach, tightly packed with thousands of colours and foods and aromas, and also grown-ups walking every which way. You might assume that this little girl would be intimidated by all of this, and be unable to find the ingredients for the sandwich she wanted to make.

You would be wrong, because you didn’t know that this little girl had two uncanny eyes in her head, which perceived the world in such spectacular and all-encompassing detail that she could take in every element of her surroundings instantly and have a photographic memory of them (but don’t feel bad for not knowing how spectacular her eyes were, because at this point in the story, neither did the little girl herself, who had grown up with these hawk-eyes and had no idea that they were superior to anyone else’s). And having grown up with such perfect vision, this little girl felt (justifiably) safe and secure in any situation, even somewhere as potentially intimidating as a supermarket, alone, making a sandwich. To her, the world was something she could see in entirety, understand, predict, and control. She was a very extraordinary little girl.

But her best friend Jenny had left her all alone, and now there was a pain in this ten year old girl’s stomach that needed to be filled with a delicious sandwich. The young girl went to the bakery section of the supermarket and took a loaf of bread as big as her backpack, and she ripped it in half, and set about to cover it with her favourite foods. But she was surrounded by every kind of food she enjoyed, and the pain she felt in her stomach was immense; so she came to the conclusion that the only way to combat such pain was to include in this sandwich every single food that she loved.

So she systematically moved through the store taking every ingredient she wanted for her sandwich, sparing no indulgence. She pilfered peppers and grossly hacked tomatoes to bits and laid them on the bread; and she built foundations of various cheeses to support dozens of layers of meat that were designed to make sure that she could consume every animal she knew (she really loved animals). She piled on fruits, from bananas to apples to kiwis to pomegranates (it was going to be the greatest sandwich she had ever seen). And she covered that with liberal helpings of ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, barbeque sauce, and chocolate sauce (it was going to be the greatest sandwich the world had ever seen). And she added on top of that dozens of crazy things that she knew didn’t belong on a proper sandwich, but which she couldn’t resist the temptation of (this sandwich was going to be greater than anything ever produced in the history of mankind). There were bizarre toppings like ice creams, pancakes, cream of mushroom soup, potato chips, gummy creatures, and sushi (it would be better than anything ever imagined).

Older shoppers congregating for company in the store saw the outlandish sandwich and the unsupervised girl and they furrowed their brows in a vain attempt to understand the situation, but soon they moved on because their lives were easier to live without the realization that such a sandwich (which was a true sight to behold and triumph of its kind) could exist.

But the sandwich soon became very heavy and very big for all of the ingredients adorning it (at least it was still the single most glorious thing fathomable). It soon became so big that the little girl couldn’t see over it, and couldn’t move because her legs were so preoccupied with supporting her frail little body as it tried desperately to hold up this massive Perfect Sandwich. And the little girl was stuck in place in the middle of the supermarket, and not even her incredible sight was able to see past the glory of the Ultimate Sandwich, as she was unable to look away from it. The pangs of hunger were becoming unbearable, and she was staring at the one thing that she had built to end her suffering, but she could not eat it, for it was too big and too glorious for her to ever eat.

And the little girl became very frightened. She was starving to death in the presence of The Sandwich God, which was intended to be her redeemer and saviour, but which was instead paralyzing, blinding and crushing her. All she had to do to free herself was to eat (or even just put down) The Sandwich, but it was too far out of her power to do that now. All she could do was to stand in reverence of The Immortal and Life-Giving Sandwich, which had all truth and beauty, all memory and fate, all of human consciousness and imagination wrapped between a pickle, scrambled egg, and some candy-canes. The little girl soon knew that she was doomed to perish of hunger, standing alone in that supermarket, beholding the glory of Her Sandwich. And the little girl wept for fear of death.

Then one man, who was in the supermarket shopping with his wife and son, saw the little girl and Her Sandwich (which was every bit her equal in size), and he called his family over to see her. He offered the girl a hand in supporting Her Sandwich, and the girl had no choice but to accept. When The Sandwich was no longer occluding her vision, the little girl was able to see the stranger, and she felt immediately that he was a good man who could help her. He was a foreigner with a comical smile, and the little girl had never met anyone who dressed or spoke as he did, but she trusted him all the same. And when she saw the man’s wife and son, she knew that they understood her dilemma, because they were carrying a sandwich that was just as magnificent as Her Own Sandwich (The Most Exalted of All Sandwiches). These people were clearly her friends and equals, partners in love of The Sandwich, and they would be able to help her deal with her impossible situation of having exactly what she needed to end her hunger, but being unable to eat it.

The man said to the little girl “Why have you built such a colossal sandwich?” and the little girl replied “Because I was so hungry without my friend that I needed to eat everything I loved all at once to dull the pangs of pain.” And the man could see that this girl needed his help, and he knew he could tell her exactly what she needed to hear. And he said to her “That Sandwich you have will not quell your pain, because no matter how delicious it is, it is simply too much for you to eat.”

And the little girl knew that what the man said was true, and she asked him “Then how can I deal with this pain that is devouring me from the inside out?” and the man replied, saying “We will go somewhere you will be able to find the answer.” And instantly the four of them (the little girl, the man, his wife, and their son) were no longer in the supermarket, but rather on a flying carpet far above the town the little girl lived in. From this height and this perspective, the little girl with the fantastic vision could take in every detail of the town at once, and she knew everything that was going on. She was gripped in awe for all that she could see and she could not look away.

The man said to her “I have never laid my eyes upon such powerful eyes as yours, and that is saying something, as I once laid my eyes on many eyes, professionally, when I worked as a curer of blindness.” The little girl thought that was a whimsical job and asked “How do you cure blindness?” and the man replied “Oh, it’s an art, or a science, really. You just build these little lens things to sit in front of the eye that change the angle of the light so that the image falls on the person’s retina optimally, and then they can see… but when you think about that, it’s really more magic and miracle that we are able to bridge this gap between ourselves and the world. Maybe what would be really best to say is that its one of many side-jobs that I’ve had in my past. For instance, I’ve also worked in the field of words, where I discovered the proper pronunciation of the word contraband. Can you believe that we’ve been pronouncing it wrong all of these years? That was probably the greatest of all the multitude of things I’ve ever accomplished.” The man was smiling boastfully after he said this, though he quickly realized that the little girl didn’t care at all how ‘contraband’ was pronounced, and he quickly got back to addressing her problem.

“Er-hem, right, about your exceptional eyes. Why, I bet that with eyes like that, you could be… you could be a lifeguard at the world’s largest beach, and you would be able to watch over and protect millions of people! You could become a celebrity by employing your wide field of vision and unsurpassed ability to see detail into making sure that no person under your watch ever drowned, and you would be famous the world over as the Greatest Lifeguard Ever! And you would be named Horizon for your ability to scan the horizon, and assure all of those under your protection that you know what is out there, and that it is nothing to fear.’

The little girl’s eyes were opened to their own astounding nature for the first time, and the little girl immediately identified her existence with this destiny to be the Greatest Lifeguard Ever. She permanently took upon herself the name of Horizon (which would later confuse her rational-minded family, who didn’t think Horizon was a first name. But as Horizon pointed out, it was her name and came before all of her other names, so it was a first name… kind of like how Kenneth is a last name so long as it has names preceding it, but none following it).

Horizon’s world was now a magical one of promise, fame, and glory because of her talents. And she asked the man “When can I achieve this wonderful life of being the World’s Greatest Lifeguard?” and her soul was torturously crushed to hear the man say “Never.”

“Never!?” Horizon cried, and the man explained to her that “Each and every person has the potential to be anything, but quickly their destinies narrow down into what they take from the world around them. In your situation you were born with the eyes of a great lifeguard, possibly the greatest lifeguard, but that circumstance is not something that is ever going to develop out of the world around you and what you already are. It is a road of possibility that has already closed to you, and there are infinitely many destinies just like that.”

“Then why would you tell me of this wonderful world where I could have been the World’s Greatest Lifeguard when you knew that it was impossible for me to ever achieve it!? Did you show me possibilities only to increase my pain as you snatched them away from me!? Did you build up my dreams only to trample them? Did you pretend that I could escape my insufferable pain… only so to add to it!?” The sobbing Horizon turned away from the man and looked down at the city, and she spotted a number of swimming pools that were covered in ice and snow (as it was wintertime), and they reminded her of her lost dream, and she wept.

But then the woman (who hadn’t said anything until now, and when Horizon looked at her she seemed very stern and frightening) took up answering Horizon’s charges. She said sharply that “The world where you are the Greatest of all Lifeguards cannot be achieved, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot make an equally wonderful existence for yourself. Do you remember how great you felt a moment ago knowing that you had an ideal future, and that you had all the resources necessary to attain it? That is the feeling that lets you know that you are on the right path, indeed, that is the feeling of having a definite path to follow. But if you never appreciate all of the wonderful things your future could be, and never set any meaningful goals for yourself, then you will fail to notice your talents and abilities, and you fall into the worst of all imaginable worlds. We wanted to show you that you need to have some idea of where you are going in order to understand where you are right now. Without a goal, nothing has meaning and life is only about comforting yourself until it ends, and you fail to appreciate the things that really matter. We have told you exactly what you need to hear, simply to wake to your life.”

Horizon was scared to hear the woman talk, but she tried to listen all the same. Horizon realized that she had never had a goal for her life… and it was indeed true that she hadn’t known about her amazing abilities before she had a dream of herself as a lifeguard. But that dream had been crushed! Wasn’t that the ‘worst-imaginable world’, having a dream crushed? But when Horizon thought about the pain she felt when her (admittedly irrational and arbitrary) goal was crushed… it didn’t seem like the worst possible world to her. There was another memory she could see that was even worse than that. A single unbearable moment imprinted in her mind that she could not deny as being the worst of all possible worlds.

It was the image of her, in the supermarket, holding Her Sandwich… with her knees wobbling under the force of its majesty, her eyes blinded by its glory, and her stomach choosing to eat her instead of Her Sandwich. Horizon saw how ridiculous she looked, with The Sandwich filled with innumerable soothes for her sorrowful belly but too big to eat. Building The Sandwich was a goal, but a goal constructed selfishly, out of hurt, and without understanding of herself or what she wanted. And that inappropriate, unobtainable, unfounded, and selfish goal had been achieved, but it turned out to be self-destructive. Horizon realized that she needed to look to the future to make sure that she was not working towards selfish, implausible, or self-destructive dreams that would keep her talents hidden from her, and ultimately devour her.

And Horizon realized that she never really wanted a sandwich; she wanted her friend Jenny back! Horizon saw that she had misused her incredible sight, and that there was absolutely no way to ever cure the pain she felt for her missing friend through a sandwich, no matter how delicious a mass of orgasmic decadence it was. Horizon saw now that what she should have done was to attack her problem of the missing Jenny, instead of withdrawing from it and selfishly using her talents to comfort her own wounds, which only hurt her more. As great as her perception was, so long as she selfishly used it only to comfort herself, she would never be able to see what she actually needed to eliminate and prevent those wounds, and that was her friend Jenny.

Horizon turned back to face the family, specifically the little boy eating the massive sandwich his parents were holding. “That sandwich you have, you’re all sharing that sandwich, aren’t you? You know that you need it, but that you can’t eat it yourself, so you all share it. That’s it, isn’t it?” And the boy looked up at her, unable to speak for all of the delicious sandwich in his mouth, and smiled to convey to her that she had figured it out. Horizon paused and looked over the side of the magic carpet (if you’ve forgotten, they’re all on a magic carpet for some reason) and she spotted her house. “Can you take me there? I think I know what I have to do now.” And the family happily obliged, and they set Horizon down on the ground in front of her house.

The magic carpet and the family onboard floated up into the sky, ready to leave. Horizon thanked them for all they had done for her, and the man called down to her “It was nothing at all. It’s not so hard to awaken yourself to your life. Just never back down from any challenge, and never let anything go unnoticed by your incredible eyes. And if you ever need to talk to us again, just properly pronounce the word ‘contraband’ and I’ll be there!”

And with that goodbye the family flew away on their magic carpet, while Horizon stood on the end of her driveway and waved to them until they had flown out of sight, which took a long time because she could see for miles and miles.

When Horizon turned around she saw her best friend and neighbour Jenny coming out of her house, and they were both overjoyed to see each other. Horizon inquired about Jenny’s absence at school, and Jenny explained that “I stayed up all night in a snowball fight with my older cousins, and I was up so late that I slept through school today.’ Horizon thought this story sounded a little fishy coming from a ten year old, but they could talk about that later. What mattered was that Jenny was back!

Jenny asked Horizon what she had done at school that day, and Horizon answered “I changed my name to Horizon and I made a sandwich.” And with that sentence, both girls were suddenly aware that Horizon’s Sandwich was behind them in a picnic basket on a snow bank. “It looks delicious” Jenny said. Horizon smiled and said “I made it for the both of us, so let’s go inside and eat it.” And the two girls worked together to lift the sandwich, and they carried it inside and devoured it, and it was the greatest sandwich they had ever eaten.