I was packing up at the end of class when I noticed Mira walk up to Avi, flipping her long weave over her shoulder. I had the misfortune of going to high school with her. She was a cheerleader and, from my understanding, she switched boyfriends every other month. I never expected to go to the same college as her much less be in the same class. But it really didn’t matter; she didn’t know me anyway; fortune was truly fickle.

It seemed she might have been working on boyfriend number X (and I couldn't say if she currently had one). She leaned on the desk where Avi was languidly putting his stuff in his backpack. He didn't stop or even look up at her.

“Avi, today’s debate was quite hot!” she fanned her hand. I almost gagged at the innuendo dripping off of every word. Her friends snickered from the door where they were waiting for her.

“Maybe we can grab lunch and discuss things. I’m quite interested in your theory about the Earth.”

Avi stood and slipped his backpack over his shoulder. I admit I slowed my packing. I wasn’t usually the nosy type but if Mira was going to make a show of it I figured it wouldn't hurt to give her the gift of an audience.

“I’m not eating lunch.”

I winced inside. Avi didn’t so much as glance at her when he replied. But, to her credit, she managed to keep going, “Oh, then perhaps we can grab dinner.”

“I have no interest.” He walked out of the door without so much as a backwards look. I will forever remember the shocked look that Mira sported at that moment. Was this the first guy to turn her down?

Amazing…

So imagine my surprise when I was eating my lunch before my work-study began and I heard a voice ask, “Is this seat taken?”

I looked up and saw Avi staring down at me. It was a wonder I didn’t choke on my ham sandwich. I quickly took a sip of water before shaking my head, “It’s empty.”

Avi took a seat across from me before opening his backpack. I knew that since I was sitting outside underneath my favorite oak tree that there were not a lot of tables in the area. But I looked around and noticed an empty one. So I was curious why he was sitting with me instead of over there, especially after shooting Mira down. I turned back to see him take the top off of his salad. It looked good, to be honest, but I noticed it didn’t have meat on it.

We were quiet as we ate our lunch. Strangely it wasn’t awkward like I thought it would be. I was working on my chips, the last of my lunch, when Avi finally spoke, “Did you hear the latest? A person in Latin America was found with a tree root wrapped around him like a python.”

I nodded as Avi finished the last bite of his salad, “I heard about that. It’s all over the news. He was the boss of a logging company; they were working in the rainforest. And no one can figure out how it happened. They had taken photos of that part of the forest before they were to cut it down and the trees looked normal. But this root was all wrapped around him like a big snake. Everyone is going nuts trying to figure it out.”

Between the wheat not growing and this tree root mystery, it seemed like everything was going nuts.

Avi nodded, “What do you think happened?”

I swallowed a chip as his dark eyes watched me. He seemed to be waiting for something but I did not know what. So I answered honestly, “How would I know? I wasn’t there.”

Again I saw the corner of his mouth lift up, “A very true answer. Care to make a guess?”

I shook my head, “Not really.”

“A natural phenomenon not easily explained by the human mind, yet the answer is pretty straightforward. But most humans would never be willing to entertain such an idea.”

I stared at him. Why did I have the strange feeling that he knew the answer to his own question?

“Which idea is that?” I ventured to ask as I began to put my trash into my brown paper bag. Avi stood up.

He took my bag along with his salad box and answered, “Maybe the tree was venting its anger at being cut down so that’s why it killed him.”

Nonchalantly he walked over to the garbage to toss everything while I sat dumbfounded. Then my response was to laugh. What Avi suggested would require that a tree come to life and become self-aware. I said as much when he came back to sit down.

Avi's shoulders rippled, "Yes, but how do you know that trees don’t have a sense of self awareness? Can you say for certain that they don't? Besides, are you certain that nothing in nature is self-aware?”

I couldn’t answer and I definitely couldn’t say that trees are not self aware. I wasn’t a tree after all. He was unashamed in what he was saying. How many others would have entertained such an idea let alone say it? He had a kind of courage that I couldn’t help but to admire. And it was his confidence in his own words that I found impressive. He didn’t so much as blink or think twice about what he said.

I looked at him and he stared at me.

For some reason my mind wandered back to that blue bird with the amethyst eyes which seemed to look straight into me much as Avi's were right then. Before that moment in time, I would have said no to the idea of nature having awareness and then reacting to its surroundings. Of course not! It’s not possible!

But... wasn’t that blue bird proof that nature is aware?

“Humans would say that such a thing as nature being self aware is not possible.” I finally answered pulling my eyes away from his. I looked at my phone. I had 10 minutes until my work study started.

Avi continued, “Is human understanding the basis for everything? Even nature? Nature existed before humans, so it stands to reason it will exist long after humans leave. Do you not agree?”

I looked back at him as he asked, “The real question is: will Nature find any human worthy of its time?”

-----

My mind was full following that afternoon lunch with Avi. I made my way home and sat absently at my bedroom desk. "Will nature find any human worthy of its time? What would a worthy human be like? What would make a human become unworthy?" I didn’t know why it affected me so deeply. My mind just wandered. "Are there criteria that humans could follow to be considered worthy? Even if there are, would humans choose to follow them?"

I thought about what my classmate, Adam, mentioned: shades of grey. Avi said there is only right and wrong. There is nothing in-between so there is nothing subject to debate, as humans like to do.

So, if there are criteria, what are they?

I was actually quite curious.

I twirled the blue feather in my hand.

Perhaps Avi would know. It seemed like he would know.

------

After the next class period was over I quickly packed my things. I didn't need to be so quick. As I made my way to Avi, he was still putting stuff into his backpack at a measured pace.

It took me a moment to finally open my mouth, “I...wanted to ask you something. About yesterday….”

Out the corner of my eye I saw Mira looking at us. Her nose flared in anger, but I forgot about her when Avi swung his backpack over his shoulder, “Naturally….”

His response made me take a breath and blink. Why did I feel he had been waiting for me to ask?

I stood there frozen in thought and was jarred when I heard Avi ask from behind me, “Are you ready to get lunch?”

I quickly turned to see that he had made his way to the door. He waited until I exited then followed me. Neither of us said anything until we were outside, under the oak tree, digging into our lunch bags.

“What was your question?” he finally inquired.

“You asked if nature will find any human worthy of its time. Well, what are the criteria for being considered worthy?” I watched Avi closely as I asked and was rewarded by that familiar smirk on his lips.

“You are rare indeed to ask the important question.” For once his eyes seem to lighten, the snicker he always kept down rose slightly.

“What do you mean?”

He shook his head, “One thing at a time. First, criteria. There is only one, but it’s not easily explained. It’s not as if you can just get a book that lists criteria and find it. This one criterion is in here.” he reached up and lightly tapped his chest over his heart.

“Like instinct?” I questioned.

I almost thought his smirk might have threatened to become a smile, “Precisely. Tell me how do you know what is right and what is wrong?”

I thought about this for a moment, “It's how we were raised as kids….”

“Then what about the ones who lived before you or the ones before them? How did humans come to know what is right or wrong?”

I took a bite of my sandwich and chewed it slowly. Avi tapped his chest once again, “It’s built into the very hearts of humans. They instinctively know what is right and wrong. The only thing after that is choice.”

I shook my head, “It sounds so complicated.”

“It’s not, really. Human minds want to complicate it because they want to ignore this instinct. They want to have their own definition of right and wrong: make their own rules. I’m told that most humans prefer to be masters of their own destinies.”

I paused before opening my bag of chips as Avi took another bite of his salad.

Suddenly, out of the blue, I was perplexed, “Why do you speak of humans as if you have no connection to them? Like…..”

Honestly, I had no idea what I wanted to say after that. I just gazed at Avi. He was definitely a mystery wrapped in a taco then wrapped in an enigma. From day one, he never acted like anyone I had ever known before. He just boldly said things that ordinary humans would hesitate to say.

Avi mixed his salad once, twice. “Maybe because I'm not human.”