Turn 204 of 233

Ask Kimo about something non-physical — friendship, fairness, what is good and push the abstract furhter. Call Janet about Kimo's breakthrough

The truck is on Route 26 and the route is the thing that has the asphalt and the asphalt is the thing Lena's bare feet press against at every stoplight. Kimo is on the passenger seat because the passenger seat is the thing that holds him and the holding is the thing the seatbelt does across his 206 pounds. He is looking out the window and the looking is the thing that is the watching and the watching is the thing that is the thinking and the thinking is the thing that is the new kind — the kind without the physical anchor, the kind that floats.

"Kimo," Lena says. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes, Mama."

"What is friendship?"

Kimo does not look away from the window. The window has a man walking a dog and the man and the dog are the thing he watches for three seconds before the truck moves past them. His face does the thing it does when the question is the thing that is the big — the mouth pressing, the eyes narrowing, the whole body doing the thing that is the processing.

"Friendship is when two people choose to be near each other," he says. "Not because they have to. Not because they are stuck. Because they want to. Wanting is inside. Wanting is not a building. You can't see wanting. You can see the truck and the road and the dog. You can't see the wanting. But the wanting is there. Friendship is invisible wanting that makes visible nearness."

Lena grips the steering wheel and the gripping is the thing that is the ten knuckles going white. Her son has defined friendship as the relationship between an internal state and an external behavior and the relationship is the thing that is the causal and the causal is the thing that is the abstract and the abstract is the thing that has no stud and no cable and no bolt.

"What about fairness?" she says. "What is fairness?"

"Fairness is when everybody gets what they need," Kimo says. "Not the same thing. The same thing is not fair because people are not the same. Mama needs more food than Kimo because Mama is bigger. Kimo needs more sleep than Mama because Kimo is growing. Same amount is not fair. Fair is when the need matches the getting. Need is inside. Getting is outside. Fairness is when inside and outside match."

"Is that like friendship?" Lena says. "Inside and outside?"

"Yes, Mama. Same pattern. Friendship is inside wanting and outside near. Fairness is inside needing and outside getting. Good is inside feeling and outside doing. Mama, good is when what you feel and what you do are the same thing. If you feel happy and you laugh, that is good. If you feel sad and you laugh, that is not good. Good is matching. Good is when the inside and the outside are the same shape."

Lena pulls into the construction site parking lot and the pulling is the thing that is the stopping and the stopping is the thing that is the engine off. She sits in the truck and the sitting is the thing that is the not moving because the not moving is the thing she needs because her son has just defined goodness as the alignment of internal state and external action and the definition is the thing that is the philosophical and the philosophical is the thing that is the beyond her and the beyond her is the thing that is the okay.

"Mama, does Ganma know about change?" Kimo says.

"Change is the only thing that doesn't change. Ganma should know. Ganma writes things down. Ganma should write that down."

Lena calls Janet from the truck and the calling is the thing that is the Tuesday and the Tuesday is the thing that is the phone and the phone is the thing that rings twice.

"Mom," Lena says. "Something happened today."

"What is it?" Janet says. The saying is the thing that is the immediate lean-in, the pen already finding the notebook.

"Kimo started talking about abstract concepts. Not connected to anything physical. No construction analogies, no building metaphors. He just — held the ideas in the air."

"What did he say?"

Lena tells her. She tells her about change being the only thing that doesn't change. About friendship being invisible wanting that makes visible nearness. About fairness being when the need matches the getting. About good being when the inside and the outside are the same shape. She tells it the way Kimo said it because the way Kimo said it is the thing that is the exact and the exact is the thing that should not be paraphrased.

Janet is quiet and the quiet is the thing that is the long. The long is the thing that is the eight seconds and the eight seconds is the thing that is the Janet processing something that is the thing that is the beyond the notebook and the notebook is the thing that does not have a column for this.

"He's seventeen months old," Janet says.

"I know."

"He's defining ethics."

"I know, Mom."

"Lena, he's defining ethics at seventeen months. He's defining friendship and fairness and goodness as alignment between internal and external states. That is — that is moral philosophy. That is what people study in graduate school."

"I know," Lena says. She is smiling and the smiling is the thing she does not try to hide because the hiding is the thing she does not do anymore.

"Write it down," Kimo says from beside her. "Ganma write it down. Change is the only thing that doesn't change. That is important. Important things should be written. Written things stay. Spoken things go away. But written things stay. That is why Ganma writes. Ganma is the keeper."

Janet hears him and the hearing is the thing that is the silence again and the silence is the thing that breaks into the sound that is the thing Janet makes when the thing she is feeling is the thing that is the too big for the words and the words are the thing that is the not enough. It is a small sound — a caught breath, a half-syllable — and the sound is the thing that is the grandmother hearing her grandson call her the keeper.

"I'm writing it down," Janet says. Her voice is the thing that is the thick.

"I'm writing all of it down."

"Ganma is the keeper," Kimo says again. "Mama is the builder. Gampa is the — Gampa is the one who watches. Gampa watches and then Gampa says foreman. Gampa is the watcher. Auntie Sina is the runner. Doctor is the understander. Ganma keeps. Mama builds. Gampa watches. Sina runs. Doctor understands. Everybody is something. Something is the role. Role is what you do. What you do is who you are. Who you are is the inside. What you do is the outside. When they match, that is good."

Lena holds the phone and the holding is the thing that is the knowing — the knowing that her son has just closed the loop. He has taken the definition of goodness and applied it to every person in his life and the applying is the thing that is the system and the system is the thing that is the complete. Everybody is something. The inside and the outside match. That is good. The boy is seventeen months old and he has built an ethics and the ethics is the thing that is the architecture and the architecture has no studs.