Two particles interconnect such that the state of one instantly influences the other, even over enormous distances. We meet in high school: sweaty linebacker and geek in Harry Potter glasses. Our voltage accelerates my protons until I glow neon, vibrate from hair tips to toenails. Drool Pavlovian when the bell rings to end classes, hoping your car waits for me.

Despite attending college in different cities, we entangle. You graduate. I leave early. Squeak floorboards, rocking colicky newborn. Your pay sets our relational equation.

You $ > Me 0    therefore    You > me

The state of one entangled particle predicts that of the other with absolute certainty. ↑ Amber fizz of beer, earthy stench of pot, your weekly reward. ↓ Cherry balm for my cracked lips, a luxury we can’t afford. Your purse strings chafe my neck.

If no external force is applied, objects continue to move in the same direction.

Subsidized daycare + education grants = Registered Nurse + part-time employment

You $ = Me $    but not    You = me

If you can only see two objects and nothing else, it’s impossible to tell which one moves and which stands still. I keep the house clean and prepare meals. We save money. For a house, I thought. But you have a new priority.

Leather aroma + grinding gears + car seats = New Camaro + standard transmission

Toddler says, “Mommy, I don’t like it when you make the car go eek, eek.” I learn to ease out the clutch with six months of Baby 2 between me and a sweaty steering wheel. But can’t adjust to leaving those babies on birthdays, holidays.  Sob as I drive to work.  

Twelve-hour night shifts nauseate me. Storm clouds gather around my eyebrows.

My full-time work =  ↑ headaches +  ↑ salary

You $ < Me $$    but still    You > me

If the first particle rotates clockwise, the second rotates counterclockwise. I need a bachelor's degree to secure a day job. Take evening classes part-time. Earn promotions.  

You $ < Me $$$

Quantum interference is the ability of one particle’s wavelike action to amplify or diminish the other. Like the wake of two boats meeting, both are enhanced, or one cancels the other.

I’m the first part-time student to graduate top of my class. You deem the purchase of a graduation picture a waste. Local campus pays; features me on the cover of their magazine. Mails one to every home. Two particles repel each other when proximity costs too much energy.

Coffee grinds and apple cores. I brush them off to retrieve the magazine from the kitchen garbage. You’re sick of this focus on me. No one acknowledges the sacrifices I made. I worked my butt off all day but still had to babysit the kids twice a week. You couldn’t have attended those classes without me. Where’s my prize? Then you complain about the dust particles I’ve allowed to collect in the living room.

Gravity pulls everything down.