I glance at you as I complete a lane change. \u201c<\/span>Have you ever heard of the red strings of fate?<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>Maybe, but I don\u2019t know what it is<\/span>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>There\u2019s this Chinese myth, you see, and it says that everyone has a soulmate or one true love or person that is going to impact their life in some way. These two people are<\/span>\u00a0\u2018connected\u2019<\/span>\u00a0by a red string, tied around the ankle.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>So it links them together no matter what? Like\u00a0<\/span>\u2018<\/span>fate<\/span>\u2019?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I shrug. \u201c<\/span>Yeah, I guess you could say th<\/span>at. Technically it\u2019s not an end-all-be-<\/span>all, but it could be in some cases.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s silent between us<\/span>\u00a0for a moment. You stare out the passenger window at the evergreen tree farm to the side of the road.<\/span>\u00a0It\u2019s only a few weeks until Christmas<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I interrupt the stillness.\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>Though one thing I always wondered about that myth, does everyone have a red string? Or are there floaters who aren\u2019t linked to anyone?<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n You pause to ponder the question.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>I would imagine everyone has a string. It would be nearly impossible to never have another person impact your life like that.<\/span>\u00a0Good or bad.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>But what about the folks that never get married? Never find\u00a0<\/span>\u2018the one\u2019<\/span>\u00a0or anything even close to it?<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>Maybe their strings got stretched too fa<\/span>r. They had it at one point and,\u201d<\/span>\u00a0you<\/span>\u00a0pause<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0click<\/span>ing<\/span>\u00a0your tongue a<\/span>gainst the inside of your cheek,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201cit\u00a0<\/span>eventually broke because of some outside factor.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We sit silently again. The snow coming down is melting against my windshield and the side windows are beginning to fog. I turn the defrost up.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I give a sideways glance at you. \u201c<\/span>Do you think we\u2019re linked?<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>I don\u2019t know. I would like to think so.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>But there\u2019s so many other people out there. And there\u2019s still so much time left for both of us<\/span>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>That doesn\u2019t mea<\/span>n we didn\u2019t luck out. Who knows,\u201d you sa<\/span>y, placing your hand on my free one<\/span>, \u201c<\/span>maybe our strings have always been there and we\u2019ve been blind.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I adjust in my seat<\/span>\u00a0and grip the wheel at ten-and-two<\/span>. \u201c<\/span>I guess. I just wonder how much a string can take before it snaps.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>What do you mean?<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>You said earlier that maybe those lonely people who never married lost their strings somehow. Like they had them at one point and then\u00a0<\/span>\u2018<\/span>something<\/span>\u00a0happened<\/span>\u2019<\/span>\u00a0and they don\u2019t anymore.<\/span>\u201d My mouth goes dry at the next thought.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>I just w<\/span>onder that, if we\u2019re connected\u2014<\/span>which\u00a0<\/span>I would also like to think so\u2014<\/span>can\u00a0<\/span>our<\/span><\/i>\u00a0string be broken?<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>I would say it depends more on the people the string is tied to rather than the string itself. The connection will still exist, it\u2019s just up to us how we want to deal with it.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My tone changes<\/span>, slightly\u00a0<\/span>defensive<\/span>. \u201c\u2018Deal with it\u2019<\/span>?<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>Yeah, like if we would need to sacrifice it<\/span>\u00a0for a better cause<\/span>. I\u2019m not sayin<\/span>g we should or would, but like . . . say<\/span>\u00a0one of us got an opportunity to do something amazing, but it meant stretching that string to the fraying point, how would we deal with it? Do we mend the string? Do we let it continue to fray until it snaps? Or do we cut it to save the trouble in the first place?<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>I would mend the string, personally, because you only get one string. If it gets\u00a0<\/span>broken,\u201d I mimic the tongue click,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>then that\u2019s the end.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>But what if, like you said, our strings aren\u2019t even attached? What if we try to mend something that doesn\u2019t exist?<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>Then I suppose we would be wasting time. But we would still be able to find whomever we are truly attached to.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>Yeah, provided that mending a nonexistent string didn\u2019t snap the real one.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>Are you saying you think we\u00a0<\/span>aren\u2019t<\/span><\/i>\u00a0connected? By the string, I mean.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>No, like I said I would like to think we are. But I would also like to think that mending a nonexistent string can create one in the process.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>So we\u2019re making a string is what you\u2019re saying?<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>We could be. There\u2019s no telling what fate can do. But fate brought us here, and I think that\u2019s worth\u00a0<\/span>something<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>It is worth something. But keep in mind, fate is also the one who plucked you from your life here, with me, and planted\u00a0<\/span>you<\/span>\u00a0hundreds of miles away.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>Are you saying our string is snapping as we speak? Because of the distance?<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>I\u2019m saying that there are many more strings closer to you than mine. And they may be the right length to tie around your ankle.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou think I\u2019ll find my \u2018soulmate\u2019 somewhere else,\u201d you ask, more of a statement than a question.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My confession comes out as a whisper.\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>I don\u2019t doubt it.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A few moments of silence pass<\/span>, neither of us sure how to fill them, so we focus on the pavement<\/span>. The snow is picking up, starting to make little waves across the white highway lines.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>Do you believe that bad things happen to good people, and vice versa?<\/span>\u201d you ask.<\/span>