Love… almost always…

“Do you, Stephanie Joyce, take George Bale to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do.”

“Do you, George Bale, take Stephanie Joyce, to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I do.”

“As the minister of the Church of Jesus Christ, I declare you Man and Wife. You may kiss the bride.”

The newly wed couple kiss. The curtains fall. A standing ovation for yet another fabricated Love Story; yet another successful theatre night.

~~~~~

Shamira was the new girl. Dark haired, dark skinned, dark eyed, she was beautiful. She’d never known love before she came to the brothel. Lily the lame dog knew how to love her.

As Shamira was getting ready to sleep in the basement, she heard a rhythmic thumping from somewhere above her. Going upstairs, she found a slight gap in one of the doors. She peeped in, and found a different sort of love was being conceived in that room. The paid sort.

For on that dark night, when that dark haired, dark skinned, dark  eyed girl was looking for love, it was business as usual for the dockyard brothel.

~~~~~

The goat was scared, all alone in the barn. There was no way that the farmer could come out at that time in the night, and see her condition. The kid was on it’s way, and it was her first time.

She had no idea what being a mother was like. She had no idea what motherly love was supposed to be like. She looked around, searching for water. Somehow, she sensed she might need it when this was over. The tub wasn’t that far, and that reassured her.

A final mighty push, and the frail brown kid was out in the world. The goat encouraged the little kid to stand up, but the spindly legs weren’t strong enough to keep the kid on it’s feet for long. Before long, the little kid stumbled and fell on top of the goat. The goat licked the kid reassuringly, and bleated in a low tone. The kid looked at it’s mother.

They loved each other.

~~~~~

It was their graduation day. They had been the best of friends, for all the three years of their college life. They’d seen the best and the worst of each other. He had a job at home, while she was going to the USA, a different land. To celebrate their last few days together, they went out to see a movie – a love story of sorts.

Neither of them knew what love was. It was getting quite late, so he went to drop her off home.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Do make sure you meet up after work. It’s just this week.”

“Yeah, I will do that. Goodnight, girl.”

“Goodnight.” She turned away.

“Wait! Before you go…”

“What?”

“I love you.”

~~~~~

A nameless writer sat in front of his black box, wondering about what love really is. While Love happened in a myriad of ways in the world around him, he sat in a little room, with a small machine in front of him, and wrote. A story, about a four letter word. Love.