Hugo wanted to participate in the project, and when I asked him what he believed in, he was not sure yet. “So, what is it that gives you power?”, I asked. “Hm… let me think. Well, what gives me power is being by myself, reading, gaming, listening to music. But… can I write you an email about it? It is such a big question!”, he smiled. I said yes, and we kept on talking for a bit. “The universe is so big”, he said. “I do not really play a role in it. Everything else is so big. What I do is so small…”

Our conversation came to an end. It was winter back then, we met at a Christmas market.

The email never came, but I also did not follow up. Maybe this smallest inhabits a place that can only be accessed when being alone, and in peace. Two and a half years later, I came back to Hugo’s smallest and realised I hadn’t matter-realised it yet. So, today was the day. As I re-read Hugo’s answer thus far, the image of a little boy lying on a bed at night, dark skies with ravens, a spider web, and a yellow light and a red book he was eagerly and happily reading, emerged in front of my inner eye. The darkness outside was not spooky, to the contrary – there was even a screeching black cat with evil yellow eyes happily going about its business! And the spider was smiling, too. A witch flew by. You know, the outside world is going on, but once you recoil inside your inner world, the evil outside world gives you smiles and is happy with you. A strange seemingly dichotomous situation, but the evilness by itself creates a shelter.

Hugo, you are not a small boy, and this I just my fantasy doing its thing, so please excuse me – I feel this! I take your smallest as a reminder to believe in the power of being by oneself, to recharge, to retreat, to be happy. The weird thing was that my inner eye showed me the yellow light to be outside of the window, the night was bright, and not inside the room – the room was dark. Also, the perspective of the book emerged inversed – unless the boy actually overbends the book?