In the first dimension, they walk towards each other: the woman in the white sundress and the man with the bouquet behind his back.
In the second dimension, a busking pianist plays Pachelbel’s Canon in Rittenhouse Square. Church bells chime the Westminster Quarters and then the 3:00pm hour.
In the third dimension, a girl perched on a balustrade in the square watches as the man actually passes behind the woman. In that moment, the story in which they marry each other plumes into the air and hovers, waiting for two other bodies to breathe it in. The pianist finishes Pachelbel’s Canon and moves on to “Clair de lune.”
In the fourth dimension, a cyclist has offered the girl an apple. The girl shakes her head, so the cyclist sits down on the bench below her, beside his bike, and eats it himself. In parallel, they listen to the pianist and the church bells and watch as the man and the woman and the lives they might have shared perfectly avoid collision. Soon, the cyclist will stand up and nod to the girl: Have a good day, miss, and ride off, his back wheel clicking a trail of small stars.
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Katherine Huang is a graduate student in genomics and computational biology at UPenn. Her work has appeared in various journals in print and online. When not sciencing, writing, or editing poetry for West Trestle Review, she enjoys dancing and taking naps. Find her on ex-Twitter @Katabolical and on Instagram @kata_bolical.