Huey and Jazmine sat around Jazmine's round table. Watching, mesmerized with it. Something so ordinary could provoke interest in the two 10 year olds.
"It's half empty." Huey stated.
"It's half full." Jazmine said, closing her eyes, and crossing her arms.
The glass was on the center of the table, the water glistened in the transparent cup.
Huey and Jazmine both eyed it, then they would look at each other.
"You know how I know it's half full? Because I poured the water in! Half filling it!" Jazmine declared.
"That justs proves that you didn't fill it all the way, and you left it half empty!"
"A hah!" Jazmine called, jumping from her seat. "So you admit that it's half full!"
"No, I'm saying you left it half empty."
"No you said I didn't fill it all the way! You said 'fill' Huey! FILL!"
"Of course I said 'fill.' How the hell can you get water in a glass without putting water in? A.K.A filling it. Filling a glass does not disprove my theory, instead it means that the person who poured the water in, stopped at a certain point, leaving the cup HALF EMPTY!" Huey said.
"No! The other half is air!" Jazmine said. "It's filled with water and air!"
"That doesn't count! We're debating if the cup is half full or half empty with water!"
"No! We're debating if the cup is half full or half empty!"
"Stop paraphrasing me!" Huey said.
"Maybe you're paraphrasing me!"Jazmine said.
"'Maybe you're paraphrasing me.'" Huey imitated Jazmine. "Is that all you got?"
Jazmine gasped. She pointed at Huey. "You just copied what I said! You are paraphrasing me!"
"We're getting off topic."
"How can we be getting off topic, if we're on a new one? The new one is the topic!"
"No, the 'topic' means what we were previously discussing, which was the cup philosophy!"
"It's half full!" Jazmine was standing.
"It's half empty! Look at it!" Huey said, he was standing at her level.
Jazmine looked into Huey's angry eyes. He looked in hers. There was something behind them. As if it was a violent storm, about to annihilate the peace in a mountain town. She widended her eyes.
The storm was coming closer.
"Think about it this way, Huey Freeman." Jazmine said. "Would you rather be half dead or half alive?"
Huey looked at her, he realized the truth. "They're equal." He said calmly.
Jazmine's anger disappeared. and was replaced with curiosity. "What is?"
"The cup. It's half empty, and it is half full. It's balanced." Huey said.
"Oh yeah!" Jazmine said enthusiastically.
She looked down at the cup. The water sloshed out on to the table.
"Oh." She said quietly. Huey looked at it.
"Of course it could always just be empty." He said, and he smiled.
"No, it is full of air." Jazmine said. Her tone made Huey laugh.
He walked towards the window, Jazmine followed him. "It's filled with air, Huey Freeman. Look at it."