Mary and Virgil step out of the ambulance. Their feet crunch snow, which has been steadily falling and again the plume of their breath reaches out, touching. Their arms lace behind each other's back.M: You said you didn't know what this was. What did you mean?
V: Things are not always as they appear. As this, is not.
M: What is it then, if not what it appears?
V: I don't know.
M: Is that suppose to make me feel better?
V: I'm not trying to make you feel anything. You asked a question. I gave an answer.
M: No. You gave me some mumble jumble.
V: Look, I'm not going to say I love you.
M: Well that is very brave of you.
V: I have seen a lot of brave things. This is not one of them.
M: Then what is it? What was this? Can you tell me that?
V: No. I can't explain it. But there is something more here.
M: Like what?
V: Something beyond anything I've known before.
M: How do you know?
V: A few days ago, in hospital, the first time I saw you. I knew.
M: What did you know Virgil?
V: I knew you were different from this war. As different as one could be.
M: Talk to me. Tell me what that means.
V: It means when I saw you, I saw everything. I saw life. I saw a reason.
M: For what? A reason for what?
V: To live.
11 comments:
I could be so easily seduced by such a voice, so soft, so silk, so silvered, at my ear.
Would you read me close a bedtime story?
Please?
S., you are very kind to me. Thank you.
And yes, I'd read to you. As a whisper, as a butterfly kissing your ear.
I am so glad to have seen you animated. We are all so much more than our words, our static pictures, our histories, what others know of us. And here, you alone (were you alone? i'm not so sure of that) you alone with your words, your characters, I almost feel I know you. Almost. As close, perhaps, as any of us get.
Erin, hope you liked the video. I'd do more but there doesn't seem to be much demand for it. Thanks for stopping by. Always my pleasure.
Tree, blogging is such an unfriendly beast at times, or can be. Sometimes it doesn't reveal truths at all. Don't mind the couple who came. Everyone else missed something beautiful, painfully so. You exposed yourself to us. I don't take that lightly.
xo
erin
Erin, I need you to move to Tennessee. In the house next to mine. And I need you, each morning, to meet me on the front porch, to hug me and kiss me. And look at me with your eyes as if they were water and I the flower. This is what your comments are to me.
Tree, be careful what you ask for. When phrased like this you become the water and I the flower.
(I laughed at my reflection today, while at work thinking of your kind words. Static reveals nothing of the child that I can't help but be, imperfect dirty faced child, and even as a child I had a hard time being acceptable on any level.)
Erin, I have some chocolate chip cookie dough in my fridge. Let me put it in the oven. I'll call you when I take them out, before they harden, when the dough is still gooey and the chocolate more liquid than solid. I want you in my kitchen at just this time and I want to feed you these cookies with chocolate everywhere--fingers, lips, faces, chest, hair, everywhere. And I want to see you smiling through the chocolate as I take with tongue what I gave with finger.
I'm new here. Hi. Just starting to read and thoroughly enjoying so far. I'm so glad I stopped on your video blog post. I feel ahead of the game having seen you "in the video flesh". I'll be back...
DH, welcome to DT. :-)
Light is always on. And the fridge is always stocked with beer. Help yourself. :-)
And if you have any questions about any of the series, just ask.
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