The Sad Boy sat slumped in the chair on the side of the room his leather jacket wrapped close around him. His sunglasses were on to hide his eyes. The tears flowing in an endless stream stained his chiseled cheeks. For hours he sat in emotional contemplation.

He was keeping vigil with The Sad Girl who had been in labor for twenty-two hours.

The distance in that small room was vast. They could not reach each other, both wrapped in their own torment.

The Sad Girl examined him through her pain. She wondered if he was crying for her or for himself.

She asked him once and never got a satisfactory answer.

And on that day, The Sad Girl gave The Sad Boy their first child. Their only daughter was born. She was an exact emotional replica of The Sad Boy.

The Sad Girl thought it was fitting. Because now The Sad Boy would know what it was like to deal with himself.

 

 

 

Although The Sad Boy and Girl saw no one, it seemed that everyone saw them. And most were not happy.

In the span of a few short hours, the news of the marriage proposal and acceptance threatened to turn into an international incident. It was broadcast through southern Italy and beyond to America.

It’s not coincidental the Italian Marconi and the American Bell were on the cutting edge of information technology. Gossip was and is a tradeable commodity

The Sad Girl had no words. Many times in her life, the words had failed her. The happiness was so great and so complex that the words would not form. They were not adequate. With The Sad Boy, she didn’t need words. He already knew. She only needed to feel.

The Sad Girl avoided all telephone calls from The Woman with a Rock in Her Shoe.

She stayed out late and woke up early. She blocked her ears when she was told that The Sad Boy was not for her. That The Sad Boy was a bad man. That it was impossible to think The Sad Boy loved her, that he would marry her. The Sad Boy loathed Americans. He was just playing with her heart.

She would have told The Sad Boy but their words were not the same. It took a while, but the day came when she told him.

The Woman with the Rock in Her Shoe threatened The Sad Girl with words too painful to type, until The Sad Girl relented and agreed to come home to wait for The Sad Boy to come and fetch her.

Time did what time so often does- it had stopped and when it started again, The Sad Boy and The Sad Girl found all the time they were allotted for that summer had passed.

And with a myriad of tears, The Sad Girl gave The Sad Boy her beloved teddy bear. She asked him to bring it back to her. For the first time their tears mingled with The Sad Boy wiping away The Sad Girls tears and she wiping away his.

The Sad Boy promised he would come and get her. He needed to procure a passport and a visa then he would come.

The Sad Girl knew that he would.

 

 

Goldilocks