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joi, 19 mai 2011

Inappropriate Proposal

Johnny-boy was an orphan who had only just met life. He had lost both his parents in what remained a mystery, for Johnny included, up until these days.

His adoptive mother, legal guardian and Johnny's closest relative, the widow Aunt Tessa, was not much of a relief for the boy's first encountered feelings in life: loss, sorrow, deprivation, abandonment... Through Tessies' (as Johnny remembered his mother calling her sister) supposed care, the boy knew not the world but dark and desert.

Soon, little John lost his memories of his parents, memories which he struggled to preserve, memories which Aunt Tessa was slowly but surely dissolving by calling the boy Jack and by hiding all the family portraits and photos. But Johnny couldn't live without her aunt as well as he couldn't live with her. His kind heart held no grudge against Aunt Tessa, nor his innocent eyes showed any hatred or even contempt for her and, at her funeral, Johnny cried as much as when his parents died.

But the good in Aunt Tessa, or what was left of it at the end of a petty life full of suffering, finally rose to the see the far sights and the warmth and brightness of the Sun's flaming arrows. In a hurriedly written testament, full of mistakes and several out-of-subject doodles on the sides of the newspaper on which it was written one night before her timely death (judging from the newspaper's date written in a minuscule font at the top of the front-page), Aunt Tessa left the still young boy in the guardianship of her late husband's furthest living relative, Professor Helga Busworth. Aunt Tessa and Helga were wretched, declared enemies since the death of Angus, Tessies' (he too used to call her Tessie) husband for who she dedicated her whole life and sadness after his tragic accident.

Helga, now an old hag herself (as Johnny remembered his aunt mentioning her one time) still thought children elemental knowledge, basic communication skills and, on all levels, manners - her own, personal obsession. Throughout her life, Helga remained unmarried and, eventually, unwanted. She knew not the pleasures of life, nor the joy of a child, nor the common feelings of women. Since Angus chose  Aunt Tessa over herself, Helga forbid herself any feelings of love or pleasure or anything similar, did not permit herself to fall for anyone and dedicated her whole existence to education, knowledge and discipline while, in the process, slowly but surely, consuming her youth and humanity, from the inside, becoming something less than a hardened volcanic rock.

But Johnny hadn't had the ears to hear Helga's stone heart resonating throughout her rocky-self. Johnny was glad to have someone who could really take interest in him, teaching him all the wonders of life. Johnny became fascinated with living, even though his attempts to get closer to Helga were repelled much like a flyswatter repelled flies. Helga showed no motherly love and she showed no guardian responsibility, something Johnny was used to. She did represent, however, a strict and extremely moral, professional and educational figure, something through which Johnny always pierced one way or another.

The day in which she was taken by surprised and acted almost unconsciously soon came and Johnny reacted as normal, as natural as possible. After a profound sigh that could shatter a soul into a billion shards, Helga addressed the walls, without paying attention to Johnny's curious eyes, his fixed look and his static head.

"I feel so lonely." she uttered.

Johnny did not answer. However, he felt something new, something unexplainable, something he, especially, could not explain to himself.. She carried on as if talking to someone and being lonely in an empty room at the same time.

"There comes a time when you feel like you need someone. There comes a time when there's nothing left but... nothing. Loneliness."

"What is loneliness?" Johnny dared in a low voice, as strongly as he could.

Helga spoke with a lot of pauses, with constant emphasis on key words and with an impeccable pronunciation. Although it was clearly a desolate statement that came from the depths of Helga's spiritual wounds, she maintained her calm speaking as neutral as ever.

"It is how you feel like when you cannot lean on either side..." Helga commenced as if dictating a definition and Johnny started jotting it down accordingly. "... it is a feeling of imbalance, of permanent decline. It is when you feel empty inside with nothing on the surface of this planet to fit within. It is..."

Helga stopped. Johnny finished curving the last letter and raised the tip of the pencil from the surface of his notebook. He looked up. Helga was still facing the walls in contemplation, as if she spoke alone up until then. She still seemed to not notice Johnny.

"... it is the time when you lack company. The proper company." she ended emphatically.

"I can keep you company, Professor. I can keep you proper company." Johnny cried with a most sincere and hollow voice.

His newly acquired smile and the glare in his eyes depicted a young boy who had singlehandedly solved the biggest problem humanity had ever faced. He had the look of a man who had all the solution ever required. Helga noticed the boy for the first time. She appeared to be struggling to smile but then quickly frowned at the sight of Johnny, the orphan, the abandoned boy who was so innocent that he couldn't even understand his own misery, torment and calvary. She stared the boy with compassion for a while.

"Oh, Johnny, dear. I do believe that is a most inappropriate thing to suggest to your teacher."

Johnny looked disappointed and he swiftly assumed his former obedient position and returned to his state that most were mistaking for stupidity - condition of innocence,discretion and poor understanding of the world and of life itself.

Just for a brief moment, for the shortest period of time that there ever was, the two hearts synchronized a heart beat.

Niciun comentariu:

Vorbe scurte

Nu aştepta tot timpul să apară ceva nou. Sunt sigur că sunt unele vorbe care ţi-ar plăcea, ascunse prin arhivă. Un pic mai jos sunt secţiunile şi acolo ai ce citi cu siguranţă. Aceeaşi filozofie o poţi adopta şi în viaţa de zi cu zi. Poate ceea ce-ţi doreşti cel mai mult stă lângă tine, chiar sub nasul tău, de atâţia ani.

Vorbe scurte

Când vei fi bătrân blogul ăsta va fi vintage.

Vorbe scurte

Am un pahar de plastic. Şi în paharul de plastic mai am un pahar de plastic. Am pus două ca să nu mă frig de la ceaiul fierbinte. Ce interesant că "frig" poate exprima căldura extremă.

Prognoza meteo: Lună prezintă