A Tale About Nothing

"Do you remember that part in the NeverEnding Story? The one about Nothing?" I asked.

"I don't think so, Lisa answered. "I covered my eyes soon after the movie started and never looked back."

"Well, the Rock Biter is trying to describe The Nothing...the villain in the story. He is describing how near his home there had been a lake. And then one day there was nothing. His travel companions ask if the lake had dried up and left a hole. The Rock Biter tells them, 'No, a hole would be something. Nah, it was nothing.'"

I paused. I had always found that part of the story so very profound. Lisa remained silent.

"Don't you find that play of words and ideas fascinating?" I asked hopefully.

Lisa was unimpressed, "Is it? It sounds vaguely like an Abbott and Costello routine:

                             'Who dried up the lake?'
                             '                              '
                             'I'm asking you. Who dried up the lake?'"

Lisa was not my first girlfriend to lack enthusiasm for conversations of cosmological significance, or 80s movie trivia, for that matter. At least she knew who Abbott and Costello were. That was something.

"Do you think there's something after we die?" I asked trying to salvage the topic.

She smiled, "No. Nothing."

I think I'm in love.