Infinity

"Do you want me to tell you something funny?"
"What about? "
"Infinity. But it isn't complicated. I mean, you don't need a degree in -"
Francoise waved a hand in the air, tracing a red pattern with the tip of her cigarette.
"Is that a yes?" I whispered
"Yes"
"Okay". I coughed quietly. "If you accept that the universe is infinite, then that means there's an infinite amount of chances for things to happen, right?"
She nodded..
"Well, if there 's an infinite amount of chances for something to happen, then eventually it will happen - no matter how small the likelihood"
"Ah"
"That mean somewhere in space there's another planet that, by an incredible series of coincidences, developed exactly the same way as ours. Right down to the smallest detail."
"Is there?"
"Definitely. And there's another which is exactly the same, except that palm tree over there is two feet to the right. And there's another where the tree is two feet to the left. In fact, there're infinite planets with infinite variations on that tree alone..."
Silence. I wondered if she was asleep. "So how about that?" I prompted.
"Interesting" she whispered. In these planets, everything that can happen will happen"
"Exactly"
"Then in one planet, maybe I am a movie start"
"There's no maybe about it. You live in Beverly Hills and swept last year's Oscars".
"That's good"
"Yeah, but don't forget, somewhere else your film was a flop"
"Oh?"
"It bombed.The critics turned on you, the studio lost a fortune, and you got into booze and Valium. It was pretty ugly"
Francoise rolled on to her side and looked at me. "Tell me about some other worlds" she whispered.
"Well" I replied."That's a lot to tell"

The Beach- Alex Garland