Doug was a contrariot through and through. He lived for arguments, especially the kind that made people’s heads spin. His latest claim? “Up is actually down.” It started one afternoon at the park.
“Think about it,” Doug said, standing on a picnic table. “What even is ‘up’? Just a direction humans invented to feel superior.”
Tom, his long-suffering friend, rubbed his temples. “Doug, up is literally the opposite of gravity. It’s not that deep.”
“Gravity!” Doug scoffed. “Who decided gravity makes things go down? Maybe it’s pulling us up, and we’re just too brainwashed to notice.”
Sarah, passing by with her dog, stopped to listen. “Doug, planes fly up. Rockets go up. Birds… flap up.”
“Or do they?” Doug replied, eyes wide. “What if they’re fighting the system? What if their ‘up’ is our ‘down’?”
Sarah blinked. “Doug, that makes no sense.”
“Exactly!” Doug said triumphantly. “Sense is the real trap! They want us to think ‘up’ and ‘down’ are fixed. But what if the Earth’s been lying to us?”
Tom groaned. “Doug, the Earth isn’t capable of lying.”
“Sure it is!” Doug shot back. “Who runs the maps? Who decides north is north and not, I don’t know, west? It’s all a scheme.”
By the end of the day, Doug had convinced no one, but he walked away smiling, convinced he was onto something. Meanwhile, his friends sat in silence, vowing to avoid any conversations involving directions in the future.
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