- Ma, where are we?

- In the desert.

- Why is there nothing here?

- Because we're in the desert. Nothing ever happens in the desert.

Welcome, reader, to a new segment in which I leave behind my customary essay-like writing and dip my toes in a genre I've never written, namely fiction. The theme is: the desert. It means an empty stage, it means a blank slate, it means sand (in your shoes).