Read Online A New York Romance by Abigail Winters - Free Book Online
Authors: Abigail Winters
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went. One by one he saw the store workers slowly pop up from behind their desks and iron gates, the shoppers peering out from behind the plants and benches, and Julie standing with her hands over her ears.
“What happened here? Did I miss something?” he asked, clueless, as the security guard rose up from the fetal position behind the garbage can with his gun in hand.
“No, Charlie,” she said hesitantly. “Everyone just thought they heard… gunshots and they got scared. You probably didn’t hear them because you were singing.”
“Oh! Well as long as everyone is alright.”
He turned and calmly continued walking through the court.
“I take it you’re a fan of Air Supply?” Julie asked.
“Of course! Who wouldn’t be a fan? You enjoy them, don’t you?”
“Well I’m sure everybody enjoys their songs, but I’m not a real big fan,” she admitted. “Are they gay? ‘Cause a lot of times it sounds like their singing to each other.”
“I’m not sure if they’re gay, not that anyone where we come from cares about such things.” He hesitated as he considered his secret; who he was, where he was from, and who he was talking to. Then he said to change the subject: “One thing I do know is that Graham and Russell know what love is.”
“Graham and Russell? Who’s that? The guys from Air Supply?”
“Yes,” he nodded slowly, as if dumbfounded that she didn’t know their names.
“You even know their names?” she questioned to herself out loud then mumbled privately, “He really is a fan.”
“Of course I know their names. Everyone knows their names: Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock. They both wanted to be called Russell so they compromised and one took it as the first name and the other the last name,” he said suddenly feeling like he said too much.
“Ah Charlie, not everybody knows their names and weren’t they just born with those names? What do you mean they wanted to be called Russell? Where do you come from anyway? Did you time travel here from the early eighties?” She was not expecting an answer. She could tell she hit the point where he would not reveal anymore, as if she knew that part of him by now, where Charlie ends and the mystery of Charlie begins.
Then she asked, “If they, Russell and Russell, know so much about love, then why are some of their songs so sad?”
“Because humans make love sad, don’t they?”
His addition of don’t they hit her like a punch in the gut, pointing out the pain she felt because of love in her past relationships, especially with her mother.
Julie thought to herself that love was a wonderful thing but yes, Charlie was right. Humans did make love a sad thing, attaching feelings of obsession, lust, and even anger to it. She saw the faces returning to the open hallway and stores and realized that some people could not even experience love without feeling loneliness. But Julie did not need to look in the faces of strangers to know this; she only needed to look within herself to feel love’s tangled chaos.
Charlie, sensing the change in her emotion asked, “How does something so simple and beautiful as love become entangled with so many negative emotions, like a rose growing in the midst of a garbage dump? Lost in the chaos of emotions and mental judgments, love’s wonderful scent and simple beauty cannot fully be nourished, enjoyed, and expressed. The true love we witnessed at the café is indeed unique and rare in the universe.”
Julie said nothing. In one single moment she felt the question resonate in her deeply, echoing through the memories of broken relationships. When she thought of her mother she felt the flower in her heart wilting from the smoke of negative emotions, struggling to breathe or find any sense of redemption and worth, among all the anger and resentment. When she thought of love from a boy, she felt the anticipation as well as the danger. She felt the need to guard her heart with a wall of impenetrable emotions
“What happened here? Did I miss something?” he asked, clueless, as the security guard rose up from the fetal position behind the garbage can with his gun in hand.
“No, Charlie,” she said hesitantly. “Everyone just thought they heard… gunshots and they got scared. You probably didn’t hear them because you were singing.”
“Oh! Well as long as everyone is alright.”
He turned and calmly continued walking through the court.
“I take it you’re a fan of Air Supply?” Julie asked.
“Of course! Who wouldn’t be a fan? You enjoy them, don’t you?”
“Well I’m sure everybody enjoys their songs, but I’m not a real big fan,” she admitted. “Are they gay? ‘Cause a lot of times it sounds like their singing to each other.”
“I’m not sure if they’re gay, not that anyone where we come from cares about such things.” He hesitated as he considered his secret; who he was, where he was from, and who he was talking to. Then he said to change the subject: “One thing I do know is that Graham and Russell know what love is.”
“Graham and Russell? Who’s that? The guys from Air Supply?”
“Yes,” he nodded slowly, as if dumbfounded that she didn’t know their names.
“You even know their names?” she questioned to herself out loud then mumbled privately, “He really is a fan.”
“Of course I know their names. Everyone knows their names: Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock. They both wanted to be called Russell so they compromised and one took it as the first name and the other the last name,” he said suddenly feeling like he said too much.
“Ah Charlie, not everybody knows their names and weren’t they just born with those names? What do you mean they wanted to be called Russell? Where do you come from anyway? Did you time travel here from the early eighties?” She was not expecting an answer. She could tell she hit the point where he would not reveal anymore, as if she knew that part of him by now, where Charlie ends and the mystery of Charlie begins.
Then she asked, “If they, Russell and Russell, know so much about love, then why are some of their songs so sad?”
“Because humans make love sad, don’t they?”
His addition of don’t they hit her like a punch in the gut, pointing out the pain she felt because of love in her past relationships, especially with her mother.
Julie thought to herself that love was a wonderful thing but yes, Charlie was right. Humans did make love a sad thing, attaching feelings of obsession, lust, and even anger to it. She saw the faces returning to the open hallway and stores and realized that some people could not even experience love without feeling loneliness. But Julie did not need to look in the faces of strangers to know this; she only needed to look within herself to feel love’s tangled chaos.
Charlie, sensing the change in her emotion asked, “How does something so simple and beautiful as love become entangled with so many negative emotions, like a rose growing in the midst of a garbage dump? Lost in the chaos of emotions and mental judgments, love’s wonderful scent and simple beauty cannot fully be nourished, enjoyed, and expressed. The true love we witnessed at the café is indeed unique and rare in the universe.”
Julie said nothing. In one single moment she felt the question resonate in her deeply, echoing through the memories of broken relationships. When she thought of her mother she felt the flower in her heart wilting from the smoke of negative emotions, struggling to breathe or find any sense of redemption and worth, among all the anger and resentment. When she thought of love from a boy, she felt the anticipation as well as the danger. She felt the need to guard her heart with a wall of impenetrable emotions
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