Bij schemering

Jeremy sighed, rubbing his nose absently.  Weet u of jij naar het museum komt? 

Why do you bother, asked the spider.

“Permanent residency, personal challenge, fitting in?”

You never will, you know.

Jeremy looked up from his exercises, curious. “Of course I can.”

Suppose you succeed at all of…this,  asked the spider, waving two legs toward the text.

Will you ever be part of conversations?

Will you ever understand a talk at the university?

Will you ever be more than a visitor?

“Of course I can”, Jeremy repeated, with a touch less confidence.

Or will you only ever be the old fellow drinking alone at the end of the bar?

Jeremy fell silent, thinking.  Weet jij (waar / of / wie) wij zijn. “Perhaps Hemingway,”  he suggested.

A snort.

Jeremy shook his head, “You never know.  Life is strange.”

Compared to what, smiled the spider.