The slope was very steep, the road was very narrow, so it was difficult to pass anyone. He sat on the back of her bike and held on to her. He wanted to close his eyes because he got dizzy from looking down. If she lost control of the bike and the bike went off the road and they fell down the mountain slope they would probably die, or, with any luck, be seriously injured at least. He could not keep his eyes closed for long because he felt he had a purpose on this journey, he had to be awake, had to lean in the right direction as they turned in order to keep them both on the bike and prevent them from falling down the mountain. They were very relieved when they had finally come the whole way down the mountain. She parked her bike in a designated parking spot for bikes and they walked towards a big barn that looked like a deserted farm in the wilderness. The purpose of their travels was to visit this barn, they walked into a large hall that was a combination of an art museum and a sports hall. His eyes scanned the hall, about one third of it was a traditional art exhibition with paintings and drawings, the largest work, the centerpiece of the exhibition was a rough bed made of wood and it had been painted in many prominent colors. The bed was oversized, he imagined that this bed could be for giants or big trolls. He knew many of the works that were on display, he had read about them and seen pictures but he always found it so uplifting to actually observe and honour these works with his own eyes. The whole other part of the hall was a sports field, the sports field had a traditional sports floor with line markings for various sports. Both the junior national basketball team and the junior national handball team were on the field. It was amazing to see both of these teams practice their sport on the same field at the same time, each team followed its own lines and it never happened that any players crashed into each other or were in any way disturbing or interrupting each other's game, it worked like clockwork. They stood for a good while and watched the practice after they had looked at the art exhibition. They were not quite sure but it came to their minds and they discussed it among themselves, that the two training sessions were like a well rehearsed dance piece, where each player or dancer knew exactly what to do and also knew exactly what everyone else was doing. In their opinion, this training or dance was the best and most interesting art piece in the hall and in their opinion became the exhibition's new centerpiece.

They were ready to go. She picked him up at the little hut he had built around himself, a kind of house inside a room. As they started talking, she felt that she couldn't relate to anything he was saying and just became embarrassed. When she looked at him carefully and examined his face, she realized that he was a completely different person to what she had thought. But she was sure that she knew him, knew this face, but couldn't for the life of her remember what name was attached to it. Then she got the feeling that he probably didn't know her name either. The journey continued, they pretended to know each other but avoided getting into situations that required them to say each other's names. As a result they spoke slowly and carefully, they used many words and long sentences. He told her that he had handed her a CD with a mix or a collection of songs that he had made especially for this trip, songs he had chosen especially for her, songs he was sure would fit perfectly with her narrow musical taste. She sometimes still thinks about what songs and bands could possibly have been on this CD. They debated about this CD for a long time. He said that he had been determined to give her the CD as soon as they met and that he had put it in her hands just before they greeted each other. Of course she argued for it, saying that she had never received or even ever seen this CD. Over time her memory changed, new memories formed in her head, as if someone else had planted them there. At first she didn't feel like she had experienced it herself. When she thinks back now, it’s crystal clear, she still has no memory of receiving the CD. But now she can remember that when she was at the check-in counter at the airport, for some reason she did not have a boarding pass like everyone else. As she was trying to check in she received a mobile phone to enter her booking number. She had trouble entering the number because she suddenly held a CD in her hands as well. These two things got jumbled together in her hands until she handed them both over to the agent at the check-in counter. That's how she lost the CD.

He met his cousin, he had only met him once before. He wasn't entirely sure that his cousin had the knowledge of them being related ​​or even remembered that they had met before. The first time they had met was at the cousin’s grandfather's house. Now, the second time they met, they talked, not in private, although the conversation was just between the two of them. There were quite a few people around them, they were at a party, people were having drinks and eating hors d'oeuvres. He spoke, his cousin listened. The cousin seemed interested in what he was saying, he didn't get the impression that the cousin was bored. At least his cousin wasn't trying to get away, not even trying to change the subject. He was mostly talking about himself, what he had achieved in life so far. He talked in detail about his sporting achievements which had all taken place over a period of ten years, when he was between the ages of ten and twenty. They didn't get much further than that. Maybe one day he will hear his cousin’s story and accomplishments, if they ever meet again.

After the fall, everything changed dramatically. It was like the legs were literally torn from underneath him. All of a sudden he didn't feel like himself anymore, not because of the pain or the drugs, rather to the extent that he wasn't able to do what he used to. Maybe he was nothing if he didn't do anything? Maybe he was what he did? After the fall the idea of ​​doing something became more important than the execution itself. But how can you bring the idea to life without executing it? Is the idea enough? Is it enough that the idea is there and is real? The idea doesn't go away but it may fade until it disappears. It may not even be a good idea anymore, just a lazy idea or even a bad idea. A bad idea is still an idea. Many things changed after the fall, but the change will probably fade or the change will adapt to reality. What will life be like then? The memory of the fall will start disappearing too, like the idea. However, he should be careful to not fall again.

In a single box he keeps all his thoughts, speculations and ideas. It would be great to have another similar box, even to have many similar boxes, to have countless similar boxes. Then he would need to have ample storage space for all those boxes and have a very good storage system. Each box would have to be clearly labeled with a detailed description of its contents and importance. Each box would have to be easily accessible, in order to be able to access its contents quickly. He would probably also need to have everything listed in a folder and he would have to make sure to have the list in alphabetical order. The boxes would then be numbered and inside they would be divided up by importance, making it easier for him to find exactly what he was searching for, so that he didn’t need x-ray vision to know what was inside. Maybe it's enough to have just the one box, just go through it regularly, get rid of what is not needed, use what can be of use, store the rest, but make sure to always have enough space for something new.

Out of the blue and all of a sudden, she discovered that there were three pins stuck in her left shoulder. They were not clearly visible at all, at first and perhaps always. She thought that these were birthmarks, as only the head of the pins was visible. There was no pain involved, not when they were just there, or even when she pulled them out of her shoulder. She thought she would feel it and that blood would start flowing out of the holes left by the pins. She thought she would feel a similar pain as when you pull one hair out of your head, but there was just no pain at all. She pulled all three pins out of her shoulder, examined them carefully, and then put them right back where they were.

There is always a contractor lurking around him. The contractor disturbs him from time to time, he points out to him what he is doing wrong, but does not help him in any way, he does not tell him how to do things correctly. The contractor does not work, he does not help, he does not guide, he just points out to him what he is doing wrong. The contractor is somehow constantly around, it looks like he's doing something important, in between being on his phone. It seems like the contractor is not watching him but then all of a sudden the contractor comes to him just to critique what he was just finishing or what he was in the middle of doing. He has no idea what the contractor's specialty is, whether he is a carpenter, plumber, painter or electrician. At least the contractor has on workwear and carries some tools.

He thought he had just banged his thumb into something, without particularly noticing it. The thumb on his right hand had at least tripled in size compared to normal or when it was in normal condition. The strange thing about this was that he did not feel any pain or pressure or pulsing in his finger. He needed to take a closer look at this, he was going to do it himself, he did not want anyone to see it, especially not a doctor because with age he had developed a certain fear of doctors and medical institutions. “People go to the hospital to die,” he often said, so he avoided them as much as he could. He examined his own thumb carefully, three times its size. A nail had pushed out of the finger so that a fairly large gap had formed there, like some kind of hole. In the hole he saw a swirling vortex. He formed tweezers with his index finger and thumb of his left hand and inserted them into the vortex. There he felt some resistance, but still he did not feel any pain, he squeezed his fingers and pulled out of the vortex a pretty big insect, the insect was alive. He was not particularly knowledgeable about the wildlife of the earth, but he had never seen such an insect, not with the naked eye, not even on television or in a photograph. This insect was some sort of combination between a cockroach and a butterfly. The strange creature escaped from his hand, he tried to monitor the insect's movements but did not succeed, it disappeared. Then he suddenly noticed that his right hand thumb had returned to normal.

Everyone had heard that she held the title Security Consultant / Ninja, but no one knew if she had actually taken a course or pursued an education in the area that led to that title or that such a course or education even existed. In fact, no one remembered her ever being at school or at work but it was common knowledge that she was smart and everyone knew that she had been promised a job that suited her, if she should choose to work as a Security Consultant / Ninja.

The item was still in development, in fact this was the prototype, no copy had been made. The aim was to introduce the item to sponsors and potential shareholders and to subsequently start production of the item. The item was a dark gray box made of metal, it was slightly elongated, twenty centimeters wide, forty centimeters long and about seven centimeters high. There were no lights or buttons on the item, although the designers were developing some kind of button to use to turn the item on and off. The prototype was completely manually controlled. In order to make it work or to make it fulfill its purpose, it had to be rotated quickly in circles around itself, it was important that it was placed on a flat surface so that it could rotate without resistance. When the item had revolved around itself for one minute, it made a copy of whatever was closest. Whatever was being copied had to be within a fifty centimeter radius from the center of the item during the entire minute it rotated. People always reacted in the same way when they saw the item make a perfect copy of themselves, they felt fear, all of a sudden it was like people had a double that was exactly like themselves. The item could make a copy of anything, whether it was a living organism or an inanimate item. But the copy that the item made was only temporary, it took one minute to make a copy and the copy disappeared one minute later. The fact that the copy lasted only one minute had prevented the support of sponsors and shareholders, because they could see no purpose for this item other than being some form of entertainment.

It started off as an ordinary day, the weather was acceptable, not many around so early on a Saturday morning. Usually at this time he went for a walk around the lake but this particular day he decided to walk into the woods, actually going in the opposite direction from where the lake was. During the walk he passed people every now and then, everyone had a dog on a leash, he had no dog and no interest in owning a dog, he always thought that people who walked their dog were doing it for the dog rather than for themselves. Then he started to pass people, with dogs, who were quite upset. "There is something floating in the lake", the people with dogs told him, three in a row told him that there was something floating in the lake. What could it be? He had not seen it, he had only heard it from the terrified people that he had passed. "There's something floating in the lake", people with dogs began to scream at him. Could it be that he himself was floating in the lake? He could not stop thinking about that, could it possibly be him that was floating there in the lake? Now the dog people say that whatever was floating in the lake earlier is gone.