Once a pound of time was weighing very heavily on a girl from New Jersey… She had already been through a suicide watch, graduated college with the Felician Sister’s seal of approval, worked two jobs, had her own car, but she was not loved. Not even by her parents.

She was beautiful and smart but terminally sad.
She was very sad. Every day she woke up and found no joy. Maybe here or there there was a bright spot, but it was like a cloud followed her.
She was chased by many men, but they were not right. They just wanted to sleep with her, but her heart was too guarded to let that happen.

In fact, at one point, her parents wanted to put her in a nunnery, just to get rid of her.
Her mother told her she was like a rock in her shoe. Annoying. A bother that she couldn’t wait to get rid of.

But what she didn’t know,  was that there was a little boy on the other side of the world that felt the same way as she did.

As pretty as she was, was how handsome as he was.

He too was on suicide watch. He tried to kill himself by smashing his car into a concrete wall. That’s how he got the scar on his nose.

His heart had been broken, chewed up then spit out and stomped on.
He swore off women. And never looked their way.

To him, the world was divided into two- men and f’in bitches. When he looked at a girl, he would imagine how they would break his heart. The female population chased him.

And he would look them up and down. See their charms. And say no. He knew they would break his heart.

His parents were very sad. They loved their son and wanted him to be happy. At all costs, they wanted him to be happy.

And his parents began to pray.

And one summer day, the sad girl got on an airplane. She had to breath. She had to get away. She wanted to run but she didn’t know where to run to. Any where, as long as it was far away from her parents and New Jersey. She never wanted to go home. Her mother opened a business and now she was expected to work for the woman with a rock in her shoe.

She had been invited to a wedding in Italy. So she packed her teddy bear and her cigarettes and went.

And proceeded to have culture shock.

She saw things, that others only dream of. She was on islands and on beaches. Museums and archeological sites. She ate things that came with 5 stars and glasses of wine.

And her sadness turned to listlessness. Because she finally figured out that you could never run away from yourself.
And problems knew how to dial a phone, unfortunately. And didn’t mind the cost of an international phone call.

And one day she was in the cathedral in Pompeii.

And she saw all her favorite saints draped in gold and diamonds and rubies and pearls.
And she saw letters and pictures, pleading with heaven for grace.

She loved Jesus and His Mother. But here she saw faith. The faith of thousands of lost people. Who needed something and petitioned the King for favors.

And the sad little girl fell to her knees and cried. She didn’t know what she needed or what she wanted. She needed help. And her tears rolling down her cheeks were her prayer.

And the next day, the sad little girl went to a wedding.

She threw on a dress that had long sleeves and a high collar, but no back. And she forgot her backless bra at home, so she had to go bra less with just her red stilettos and some lipstick and mascara.

The wedding started at 11 am. It was at a beautiful restaurant that over looked the Bay of Naples.
Still, she was listless. It was just how she was.
She would go outside and lean on the railing and smoke a cigarette and think. Because that’s what she did. Life was in front of her, but it seemed that it was out of her grasp.

And the hours passed. Finally, she noticed that whenever she went outside to smoke and think a sad boy came out soon afterwards to do the same thing.

She thought it was funny.

And the day turned into night. And with it came the sweltering heat of August.
And the sad girl started to sweat. Beads of perspiration were rolling down her bare back.
She sat up, to get her back off the upholstered chair. And she felt a breeze. A nice gentle breeze that cooled of her sweaty back. And she stretched so the breeze could go in between the folds of her dress.

And then she knew something was out of place. So she turned around and saw the sad boy. He was lounging on a chair a few feet away.
He had a Spanish fan and was fanning her back.

The sad girl smiled at the sad boy and he smiled back. Then she turned around.

And she promptly forgot about the sad boy until the end of the evening.

It was decided that the sad boy would take the sad girl to the beach the next day.

Okay, whatever, the sad girl agreed. She didn’t really care and neither did the sad boy.

The day dawned and with it the sad boy, who always kept his promises was waiting to take the sad girl to the beach. She overslept. But, he waited for her to get ready.

And he opened the door and tucked her in his car, And with a wave and a bored face they were off.

And he turned on a cassette, because they did not speak the same language. And the tape was the sad little girls favorite. And the sad little boy sang, except he couldn’t sing in English. And the sad little girl laughed and so did the sad little boy.

And the parked and walked down steps that had been built thousands of years before. And he would grab her hand because he was afraid she might fall. He would not let her go fast. She was in his care and he promised to look after her.

And they stopped to look at the view. The sun was shining and the water was sparkling and the beach was jammed packed. But the sad little boy knew what to do.

He rented a paddle boat. And popped the sad little girl in and they looked at each other for the first time.

And they paddled. The sad little girl didn’t care where, She was having fun. And so was he.
They ended up on a teeny tiny island that was deserted.

And they spread their towels and went swimming to cool off. Still they were laughing.

They went back to the beach and each layed on their respective towels to dry off in the sun.

And the sad little boy rolled over and kissed the sad little girl. The Angels turned their heads, for now their job was done.

 

Happy 25th Anniversary Sad Boy

Love, The Sad Girl

 

Goldilocks