How Green Becomes Wood

"Well you know. Normal boring stuff. Painting rooms just to redecorate. Installing porch fans. All those boring little things people want to improve their homes or buisness. Nothing quite as exciting as a statue, but not everything is an emergency."
 
"And a good thing, too!" Lex agreed fervently. She glanced at Cooger. "You do good work, and a paint of coat is sometimes-" She paused and made a face. "A coat of paint is sometimes exactly what a person needs at that time."
 
He couldn't help but laugh at her slip of the tongue, "I love to do a good paint of coat. It's really very relaxing, and it's a place I can always bring Xander, although I can't say I love how he tapes areas off. But, you know, not everyone I work for is making home renovations or repairs following a death."
 
"Life is more important than death," Lex said simply. "Death hurts like hell and is hard to heal from, but no matter how broken you feel, you gotta keep-on keeping-on. The world around you don't stop even if you feel like it should."
 
"Sure, I know," Cooger said shrugging, "I've seen people struggle pretty hard with it, but I guess, also, not all deaths hurt the same, you know. Some are a lot more expected, and I think those are easier to heal from."
 
"I listen to bluegrass and classic rock, mostly." Cooger answered, "Sometimes other stuff. I used to listen to more intense music, because Dark does, and I do like it. I just don't have that same fire now that I've gotten older."
 
Lex nodded. "Weird how we mellow as we get older, but there's always a soft spot for our childhood songs, isn't there? I like classic rock, too. Good stuff! Until I hear a song I heard in high school on the golden oldies station."
 
Lex laughed, startled but pleased at his statement. "Then I guess I won't go poking about your lawn, then! What's next, you'll be telling me about how back in your day the grass was greener?"
 
"Well, listen, here's the thing: My biggest dream is to meet an alien or encounter Bigfoot or Mothman or some other cryptid. Tarot and I talk about it all the time. She's more of a 'fact or fiction, the lore humans have created about them is neat' kinda person, although she gets real esoteric if you get her talking, but--call me crazy--I pretty much totally believe. Not in everything, you know, and I don't think all cases are credible, but I am certain there are things out there we cannot explain. I don't think the Squonk or the Montauk monster are real, but, you know? But," He raised one finger up and grinned at her, in a way that made it unclear if he was being ironic and really good at it or if he was entirely genuine, "Who do those things appear to? Kooks! And who is more of a kook than a crotchety old man in the woods?"
 
"That's fair!" Lex agreed. "Can't say I'm much of an alien believer, myself, or if there are aliens that they'd care to come here, but, hey, it'd be interesting if I was wrong! Mothman and Bigfoot, though... I dunno. I'm inclined to believe there might be something to those tails. Might not be exactly what we think, but I think assumptions and perceptions get in the way of a lot of things. I'm a big fan of Nessie, I gotta say."
 
"Well, with aliens, you know, we talk a lot about the Great Filter, where it becomes a question of how advanced life can possibly get, and if we as humans have reached the filter, or if we're approaching it, or what. And I think the universe is so vast, the likelihood that this is the only planet, out of billions, across the giant expanse of space, is real egotistical. If we accept both the Filter theory and the likelihood of other life somewhere, well," He eyed her, "People've suggested that, well, we started having all of these encounters after the Manhattan Project. The rate of occurence has really seemed to shoot up. So, the theory goes, we tested that very first nuke, we made that special kind of weird green glass out of sand, Oppenheimer realized the hell he had wrought, and, for the first time, we placed ourselves out there on the intergalactic stage. Other planets with life more advanced than ours, they saw that flash, and they knew we had become more than bugs. Now, I dunno if any of it's true, but there are some stories that are pre-tty compelling, if you ask me. And space travel gets more curious when you consider maybe it's not through space, but through time, or both, and there's a lotta weird stuff happening in the 40s. Not only the nuke, but the Philedelphia experiment, where, allegedly they tried to turn a ship invisible, but instead sent it into the future. Not worth not considering, I'd say. People are real small when it comes to the universe, but we're sending out junk all the time, we're detonating bombs that make sloughs off skin and gives generations cancer, and that ain't nothing."

He nodded to himself, apparently satisfied with his argument, "Now, if you talk to Tarot about Mothman, first of all, she'll give you her book, and that's her primary answer, it's a good read, but it's her academic, professional response. Get her talking beyond that, she'll tell you her theories on the veil. But that's real complicated, and anyway, I like the idea of an animal Bigfoot, rather than a supernatural one."
 
"Animal Bigfoot makes a lot more sense, but if we're talking stats - which I flunked twice as a class - I'd say the statistic of there being life on other planets is just as likely as there not being any life on any other planet or there being life, but not of the sentient kind," Lex remarked. "But if you think about it, of course there's been more reports since the 40's. There's more people to start with, information is easier to share, and it's not as much of a social death sentence to be ostracized if you star spouting quote unquote 'nonsense.' I mean, yeah, the nukes might have done something, but nature changes all the time with and without human interference. Plus, on the downer side, humans play with all sorts of stuff that get them seeing little aliens in all colors."
 
"A lot more sense if you don't know the theory behind supernatural big foot," Cooger countered, "I'm not sure if it's true that it's just as likely that there is no other sentient life. I just really feel that's really neglectful of just how huge space is. It's practically infinite. Especially, you know, earth didn't have sentient life forever. That's recent given the Earth's history, so who can say? And anyway, sure, information is more readily shared, but certainly we would have more historical accounts? Tarot swears there are accounts in legends which correspond neatly to how we discuss abductions or sightings now. I just think, you know, if just one percent of this stuff is true, that makes the world way, way more complex."
 
"That's if you buy into the idea that this whole muddy ball evolved, which, to me, always sounded like as much of a guess and a hope as any religious idea," Lex shrugged. "I'm not saying it didn't, but I am saying I'm not sure I buy it. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't, but if it didn't, then other worlds have a much lower chance of existing, don't they? Unless there's a god or plural gods are going around making multiple words, which sounds about as viable as anything else, don't you think?"
 
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