Kris: “Check it out, there’s going to be a solar eclipse on May 20 that will be visible from, among other places, Redding.”

Gene: “Cool.”

Kris: “Can you even imagine the number of alien hunters and ghost whisperers who will be out on Lake Shasta to see that? [Looks at calendar.] Oh, too bad, looks like you’re going to be at the Maker Faire that day. You’ll be surrounded by logical types who will completely understand the science behind an eclipse. Everyone’s just going to be glancing up casually, going ‘Oh, the sun and the moon are doing some kind of thing there, a common event in no way caused by elves.’ BORING.”

Gene: ” ‘Doing some kind of thing?’ Do you not know what causes a solar eclipse?”

Kris: “Well, I know it’s not elves.”

Gene: “Okay.”

Kris: “It’s aliens, right?”

Gene: “…Yes. That’s right.”

“We’ve been having kind of a streak of bad luck lately,” I said to Gene. “Have you noticed?”

“Bad luck?”

“You know, the fence falls down, you lose your wallet, neither of us is working now…”

“You’re right,” he said.

“But overall, I feel like we’re still having a really good life,” I said, “weirdly. I mean, when I think back through my days in the last few months, all my memories are of happy things. We’re doing really well in spite of this unlucky streak.”

“I agree,” he said.

“Of course, the bad things are mostly happening to you,” I mused. “You had to fix the fence; it was your wallet. But we are partners, so in a way anything that happens to you happens to me.”

“That’s right,” said Gene.

“Although also, in another and much more real way, it doesn’t happen to me at all.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re so happy,” Gene said.