Diana Kurniawan

As Karina let go of her hug for Pearsons Rockfield, Giuseppe Baptiste uttered, "You have to allow the world to enjoy your blessings, your belongings, your favors, your body, your soul! It is called generosity."

 

"My body and its systems are not public property. I hold the human rights to reserve it, " said Karina. "I will help the world, but you will have to respect me and everyone else."

 

"You've been abused and exploited before, why not let everyone take some. You're a lowly commoner now," said Giuseppe Baptiste.

 

Pearsons Rickfield stood next to him and sucked on his thumb, then said, "C'mon, Karina, give them some."

 

My Father, Sean O'Connor, replied, "I once dated a woman who was assaulted and she was ostracized much like Karina is now, and there was no help from you nor The New Order. It was unjust. You have to realize that everyone has a sovereign right and human rights, and you shouldn't intrude into their privacy or break personal boundaries, controlling their personal lives, sex, dating, jobs, and how they shop."

 

My mind went back to the bacon products for Tier 1, and how Karina wanted some and would probably never have any if she wasn't allowed to shop that Tier with freedom. "Why can't we all shop all the Tiers?" I asked.

 

"Well....well...well....if it wasn't the Econ Professor who didn't graduate high school, yet. It's all about Taxes. The more you pay, the more privilege you get. It's that simple," said Pearsons Rockfield. 

 

No wonder the celebrities and the famous and rich have all of the luxuries and power in life. The government felt they pay more taxes monetarily, but lacked the understanding that they created more violence than normal. Their influence, power, money and access to commit crimes and violence proved corruptions, and Pearsons Rockfield and Giuseppe Baptiste supported The Choi Militia and The Black Mollies. 

 

"You mean to tell me, you allow your company to harm others, because they pay more taxes?" asked Rambo. "What about how they created more sins, abuses, crimes, injustice, assaults, homelessness, mental illness, and so many more burdens to society? They are the negative in this positive world. Wait, you've also made it into a pessimists' nirvana!"

 

"Insult! Such insults! How dare you? Must I remind you that I am the priest of The New Order? Of course I understand vice!" said Pearsons Rockfield. Giuseppe Baptiste held his cheeks with his palms.

 

"Wait, hold up, wait my sire!" Giuseppe Baptiste said to Pearsons Rockfield. "You mean, you did all this because you cared about money and power? I thought it was your devotion to me?!" Giuseppe Baptiste acted as the sap he was, absolutely vain and devoid of self-awareness.

 

"You are both disrespectful to the common man and woman and children, and those are the population who we need in this world," said Karina. "We as human beings, and especially you both, have to realize the need for boundaries, retaining one's soul, heart, mind, and personal space, family, heritage, culture, values, hopes, and the pursuit of one's right for happiness."

 

"And, where did you learn this human law?" asked Giuseppe Baptiste. "I was educated by The Trinity College." 

 

"She's a genius, Giuseppe," said Rambo. "Karina's been harmed much more than normal and with that, she was gifted the knowledge to defend herself. It's her powerful mind, the only reasons she was found alive under a bridge."

 

"This....this ...creature was under a bridge? You mean she lived like a rat?" asked Pearsons Rockfield, his right hand touching Karina's hair, and then pulling it away immediately as if Karina was infested with fleas. "Giuseppe, promise you won't wander down near the gutter."

 

"My dear, nowhere near the gutter unless you are with me," said Giuseppe Baptiste.

 

Noises of loud murmuring came from behind them, at the other side of the park where the center stage of the recital was located on Capital Grounds. There was a commotion, and the loudness became audible as it revealed itself as chantings from local Denverites raising The New Order flag into a braided yarn in the shape of a pretzel on sticks, held up and down, as the crowd raised a movement.

 

"By Jove, you brought your friends!" yelled Pearsons Rockfield.

 

"What sort of delusional plans did you just uncovered, Democratic Zealots!" Giuseppe Baptiste screamed.

 

"We didn't call anyone, and where are your body guards?" asked Rambo. I shoved Rambo and covered his mouth, to prevent the priests from calling their men. They took out a whistle from their pockets, and blew it and raised their arms to men across the street, but it was too late.

 

"Reform! Reform! We demand REFORM! It is the age of REFORMATION! YOU SHALL NOT DENY IT! Long Live Democracy!" chanted the crowd of Denverites. 

 

A woman came to my Father, and asked him," Are you, Sean O'Connor?" My Father aghast because she knew his name, and answered, "Yes, do you need to ask me a question? Who are you?"

 

 

"My name is Madeline, but you can call me "MAD," she said. She took her pretzel flag that was made of the braided New Order flag, and handed it to my Father. "I got a call from Dana. He's an old friend of mine, from college, and he forwarded me the recording. It was a private message, but I announced it to the public. This has to be publicized!" 

 

My Father gasped and we heard him took a breath and stepped back. "I didn't know Dana planned to do this," said my Father.

 

"Too late, these priests are corrupt!" said MAD.

 

Giuseppe Baptiste and Pearsons Rockfield hugged each other tight as they said, "We deserve to live! All the women in our pasts harmed us, and now everyone is angry we are the BENEVOLENT LEADERS of the FREE WORLD!"

 

MAD looked to them, and said, "Perjury! Both of you! You both lied! It wasn't heartbreak! It was all abuse of power!" She yelled to their face, as Karina was also afraid of the huge crowd of people, protesting REFORMATION!

 

The body guards from across the street were barricaded, and they were tied by the pretzel shaped flags, in two by twos. 

 

MAD demanded, "Announce Reform! Because in one minute, Dana's recording will be on the screens of solarized billboards with graphics capabilities, all over the world. Remember? You called those, Magical Inventions, because you controlled the pictures and the advertisements on them for your pleasure, and not to help the people."

 

Pearsons Rockfield and Giuseppe Baptiste both cried, and touched foreheads. They touched their cheeks, and told each other, "No matter what happens, we are in this together."

 

"You're both allowed to love, and it's not about that. It's about your abuse of powers," said Karina. "It's about the deaths you caused and the assaults you supported. You've also helped the violence to proliferate in the lives of others. That's what this is about."

 

Pearsons Rockfield and Giuseppe Baptiste held each other's arms, "I knew one day, the good days will be gone, and we have to become commoners again."

 

"Oh my GOD!!! You just wanted to become Royals, too?" said Rambo. "You are so stupid. Why didn't you just introduce yourself at one of their events?"

 

Pearsons Rockfield and Giuseppe Baptiste looked at Rambo, and Pearsons said, "Well....because their house would still belong to them."

 

"Why me? Why assault me?" asked Karina, with tears in her eyes, as she gasped for air realizing these two bastards were mongrels and cruel animals hungry for money and authority, with no remorse for humanity.

 

"Because we can," said Giuseppe Baptiste, as Pearsons Rockfield added, "Because we will have more umph!"

 

Karina dropped to her knees, sobbing. I realized this was brutal to her soul, and she didn't deserve any of their nonsense.

 

I held her shoulders, and said to her, "The uncivilized did wrong. My Father and I will walk with you." Karina hugged me, as my Father came to her, and caressed her black silky hair.

 

"I'm so sorry!" said Pearsons Rockfield. "How do you stop them?" Both men were afraid for their lives, because their body guards were held down and tied into a knot.

 

We all ignored them, letting the crowd of people to come closer to have them.

 

Just write.

The ocean is so vast inside my mind as its darkness escapes the real sunlight in my eyes. The vision is full of a foggy midnight and it hurts inside me with the suffering deepens as memories of each stab compounds over my soul. Each knife that enters my skin and the surface of my body feels bloody and it destroys my days. The surrounding in my life becomes moist with tears as I recall the faces of those who hurt me in the past, coming back to surface with the spurts of blood.

 

Each fraudulent charge into my account where I save my life is now game for them, the criminals who steals. It hurts me that they resort to crimes to gain blessings and favors to have riches. I never make any jokes about my heritage or exploit another for their ancestry, but their labels leads the world to stab and abuse to get everything they desire to play with my mind. I am so happy I am stronger than their abuse and I will keep working and take evidence seriously. Criminals should be put to justice and they are no exceptions. It is time. They have to leave because I did nothing wrong to their lives, instead they hurt mine, with glee.

 

This time they take some, and next time, they might take my all, my life and my whole being. I don't want to be casualty of their war. They have to leave because the ocean becomes deep and I know they want me to drown and become a victim once more. I don't deserve it. Never! I will not fear!

 

Just write.

Forgiveness is constant as I make it a habit with a dose of salt thrown over my shoulder. The man with an ambitious goal, and a jealous streak, lurking at each corner asking for information and reasons to hate, he deserves forgiveness. The woman with an annoying laugh who dislikes you and wants everything in her power to control your destiny despite your plea for her to stop and let it be, she deserves forgiveness.

 

I find that the more I practice even with the smaller details, it helps to lead me to forgive for the assaults, bullying, abuses and harassments. Excruciatingly difficult for me too, but the girl at the sandwich line doesn't mean for you to consume that much mayonnaise and it isn't her fault you hate white lard. Probable cause lingers in my mind of why the people who doesn't want me to have love will always try to sabotage it, but I finally let it go, and let it be, and let God. Surrendering is often the best medicine and I just don't ask for anymore harm from others by making it easier for them to hurt me. There are laws, and I am protected.

 

Forgiveness has to be done first even if the guilty doesn't know. I can just forgive and let them be and not be hard on myself and my conscience to cause me more anxiety. It is so fluid, and it helps me through, letting them be in the arms of God, and away from my dancing space. I forgive because I don't want anymore traumas. If I don't forgive, it is inside my chest and it lives there forever, as I become bitter and lose my tastebuds. The senseless pain doens't add up to healing or pleasure, because I become the victim once more. 

 

Forgiveness, an art that might take a lifetime, so I'm starting now.

 

Just write.

 

The girl with a bun on her head in a white tanky popped both of her shoulders up and down as she wound her elbows like a ferris wheel. She slided next to me and bumped on to my arms purposely, "Yo!" She kept wounding both of her elbows and walked with a swag and kicked-ball-kicked and walked about and turned. She continued on about me and bumped on to my other arm and said, "Hey!" 

 

I tried to walk straight but she kept bumping into me turning my walk into a sliding adventure side to side and back and forth. "What's up, and what's wrong?" I asked her. She lifted one eyebrow and winked and back on to wounding her elbows as she kept walking as if she waltzed her whole life through. 

 

The little boy catecorner from me had a large oblong head and his eyes squinted as he cried. His head looked balding, but it might be from his illness, or whatever it might be. The crowd of normal people walked surrounding us, dodging our bodies, leaving us six feet apart from the world and the girl with the white tanky looked back and shouted, "Howdy!"

 

The little boy with the oblong head turned to me and stared deep into my eyes with his slanted light brown eyes. What provocation he might have experienced from her shouting, I didn't want to ask. I nodded to him and smiled, but he turned away and sobbed. He was by himself with no one around him. Was he alone? How did he get here in the first place? Where was I? My microcosm looked busy, but I had no knowledge of my environment, only the crowd. What world was this?

 

No one wore a mask, except for one person and he had a uniform of a train ticket attendant with a blue hat. "Where is your ticke? I need to stamp it," he told me, with his palm open. I replied, "I'm not going on a train, I somehow landed here. Where is this place?" The man sighed, "You always need a ticket...everywhere you go. It's the rule." I was flabbergasted and my eyes looked to the left and right, "I didn't know that," I said. The man shook his head and left, "Crazy people," he said.

What on Earth was this dream about?

 

Just write.

Legend told, one mid-day in Calcutta, India, in a small street where the lepers slept and the homeless wept, Mother Teresa came to them to tell stories of mankind.

 

"Mankind is definitely a strange species, all to ourselves," she said.  "On crucial times, although God is watching, we would not acknowledge Him. Thus, committing our greatest sins," she told with such humility, inviting the people to learn from one another.

 

"Do you think man would ever stop, Mother Teresa?" asked a man.

 

"A long time ago, a man thought something very small would help," said Mother Teresa, "this man created a comma (,)."

 

"Did it mean anything to us at the time?" the same man asked the question.

 

"By Jove, it has!" said Mother Teresa, as she was pleased by his response to her story. "A comma, symbolizes a slight rest in our manners of speech." She smiled at him, and opened her right palm. "We seldom pay attention to our own speech and dialects. But, this comma made it so, that we would rest to take note of our words," said Mother Teresa to him.

 

"What does it look like?" Another man shouted.

 

"It is a small brush stroke of an India ink, resembling the crescent moon," said Mother Teresa, as she kneeled towards a water puddle on the street to touch it, and stroked the speck of water to a dry wall to illustrate the crescent moon comma.

 

"That is too simple, madam!" shouted the man, as a protest to such a small example.

 

"It is always the simple things in life, such as: clean air, water, and true love that makes us alive," said Mother Teresa to her lovely friends.

 

"May we learn from you, Mother Teresa?" shouted another man from the crowd of people, listening to her story and wisdom.

 

"Of all things, may we all learn good things from one another," said Mother Teresa. She humbly bowed and smiled at him, as the crowds became larger from the gathering of people.

 

"Thank you, and we love you Mother Teresa!" shouted a man she had helped in the past with support, because he felt someone cared to inform him.

 

"Do you have another story?" asked a young man.

 

"I have not yet finished, my love," said Mother Teresa, as she began to laugh. "This time, I know you would like to see a most simple invention." Mother Teresa daubed a spot onto the dry wall again, and said, "This is a dot (.) or a period."

 

"Is this for another pause?" questioned a young woman.

 

"This is for a full stop, to completely pause between our speech," said Mother Teresa, as she became silent for a moment, to symbolize the complete pause she spoke about.

 

"Is this common knowledge, Mother Teresa?" shouted the young woman.

 

"Is this by the Romans?" everyone asked one another.

 

"Does not matter whether Greeks, nor Romans, we have another most unique invention," Mother Teresa said, but this time there was a long silence that gave her a few moments to think before she spoke.

 

"The Greeks have known this too?" asked a young man, who was thirsty for knowledge.

 

"The latest invention is called "semi-colon (;)," she said, "it is for a minor stop between our speech but for differing ideas or perceptions."

 

This time, she spots the dot on the dry wall, along with the stroke of the crescent moon comma, directly underneath.

 

"How amazing Mother Teresa! Mankind invented the most ingenious ways to learn," said the young man, who was completely amazed by new information.

 

"We are greatly intelligent!" said a young woman, who smiled from ear to ear.

 

"We are still lesser than God, my children," said Mother Teresa, who readied to leave the gathering.

 

"Although I know many of you have been enlightened, I still believe it is still the simple things in life we are to be proud of," said Mother Teresa, as she looked down towards the water puddle on the ground, wishing for simplicity of bare necessities for the people she cared for.

 

The people in the crowd began to weep because they were honored by her presence.  They saw how humble, intelligent, and kind her heart shined amongst them on that day.

 

"Remember how small and simple these inventions are.  Yet, they are strong enough to educate us; to learn from one another," she softly uttered, to a little Indian boy as she tucked his stranded curls away from his face, behind his ear.

 

Mother Teresa continued, "I must go now, there are still so much work to be done," as she walked towards another path.

 

The crowd of people subsided and the people of Calcutta still remembered this story, of how one day Mother Teresa taught the world to enjoy life together while learning from each other at its present moment.

 

The End.

 

Just write.

 

Pearsons Rockfield and Giuseppe Baptiste held hands as Karina stepped back from hugging them.

 

"But, you still haven't told us why you chose to abuse your control and power over the people by ending the lives of those families who were important to the world?" asked my Father. "They were helping and you wanted to take their birthrights and sacrifice Karina to have some type of super powers."

 

"It's not a super power, it's favor from God!" said Giuseppe Baptiste. "We needed the extra umph to get God's attention to give us powers and control over the people of the world."

 

Karina, Rambo, my Father and I were baffled, witnessing how they tried to manipulate their words to say the same thing that we meant for them to realize.

 

"Yeah, you hurt the Royals so you can become the top dog," said Rambo. "It's a power thing isn't?"

 

"We wanted to have the best. We wanted to see our people thrive, and the ones we choose to be our people and to succeed," said Pearsons Rockfield. "With the old world, they also had their circles and it was difficult to get there without killing someone."

 

"You should never have to kill anyone, or assault them," said Karina. "I didn't deserve the assaults, but you did that and told your men to do it because you wanted to sacrifice me to gain my soul privilege."

 

"We never had a soul privilege," said Pearsons Rockfield. "I tried to marry twenty times and never gained any privilege from those women. But, with one assault to you, I became a stronger human being, and so did my people."

 

"We are just in love, and we want to be together," said Giuseppe Baptiste, holding hands with Pearsons Rockfield.

 

Karina took her hand and placed it over Pearson's hands, and told him, "You have a soul privilege, you just never believed you had one." Karina kissed him on his forehead, and also on Giuseppe Baptiste's forehead.They looked to Karina as Karina stepped back again, and she said, "I was not Tier 1. I was lower class, even as a Royal and the last of the Ting Dynasty. But, I worked hard, Pearsons and Giuseppe. I believe you were both born into a good surrounding, and being priests, you had the privilege of a divination and respect from the world. There was no reason for the assault.Yu were the privilege ones."

 

Pearsons Rockfield and Giuseppe Baptiste both looked into each other's eyes, and told each other, "We wanted our friends to be happy with us."

 

"I know you wanted control, but other people's families and body and lives are not yours to control or manipulate, Pearsons and Giuseppe," I said.

 

I realized that just like an over powering human being, they wanted to have power and privilege but they weren't skilled to gain the respects of the people by gentle means, so they resorted to violence. Instead of dialogue, education and work, they took the easy route and forced it upon others and destroyed those were against them with brutality and assaults.  It was a medieval ways of the dark periods of human origins through torture, and this habit never died. 

 

"We should change this behaviour," said my Father. "We have to tell the people that you wish for their respect and earn their support the right way. Through voting rights as was done centuries ago. This way, there is a method that won't harm others with violence."

 

"Besides, Dana has a recording of this dialogue between us," said Rambo. He took his wrist phone and showed the hologram that has been on since the beginning of the concert. 

 

"Hi, Giuseppe, I'm down near Laos! It's sunny here, and just vacationing!" laughed Dana. "But, I never anticipated a show like this before! I knew you were in love, but I didn't know you're both lunatics!" Dana kept on laughing and he replayed the video on his computer at a hundred times speed as it showed the violin performance and fast forwarded to the present moment.

 

Pearsons Rockfield and Giuseppe Baptiste gasped as they palmed their cheeks and shrieked. Pearsons Rockfield, who wore a grey robe and red sash, ran to the tree a few yards away and hugged it, as Giuseppe Baptiste kneeled down and wept. 

 

"Pearsons, we have to talk about this!" said Giuseppe Baptiste. Pearsons looked away as he kept holding the tree inside his arms. 

 

"You're both are actually gentle people," said Rambo. "Why did you choose to work with Black Molly and the Choi Militia? They're brutal!"

 

"Oh my God! We were caught on candid camera!" said Pearsons Rockfield. "I'm not happy at all!" Pearsons cried suddenly, and Giuseppe Baptiste closed his eyes and also wept.

 

"What do we do now? These two are cry babies!" asked Karina to me, Rambo and my Father.

 

"They need to confess to the whole world," said my Father. "Confession will give the world a fair chance to understand them."

 

"And, they have to let Boris and Betina claim their rights to be Royals," said Rambo. "And, give you, Karina, your rights back."

 

"You mean....I will become a Royal?" asked Karina.

 

"Your lineage, too," said Rambo. 

 

"And we have to choose the new leader through Democracy," I said. 

 

Pearsons Rockfield and Giuseppe Baptiste both were found laying on the ground, making dirt angels on the Earth.

 

"We're counting on our last seconds as rulers," said Giuseppe Baptiste. "Are you planning on playing those tapes all over the world?"

 

Rambo held up his wrist watch and Dana was still laughing and said, "Well yeah! You didn't think this macaroni and cheese drought didn't hurt anyone did you? Plus, we've all been living in the dark! It's about time the world knows why."

 

"Oh, honey,....I am all out of morse codes," said Giuseppe Baptiste.

 

"It won't work this time, and besides, the Black Mollies and Choi Militia won't be able to save you," said my Father. "The video was raw and real. We can air it right now all over the world through our wrist watches as an emergency signal."

 

Pearsons Rockfield fainted and his head fell back to the ground, and Giuseppe Baptiste gasped once more, and shook him by his side. "You can't leave me!" said Giuseppe Baptiste.

 

"The emergency signal was just sent with the video. It will be in everyone's wrist phones in one second," said my Father. Rambo held his wrist phone and we all saw Dana send the video through a worldwide emergency number.

 

I just received mine, and I played it on.

 

Just write. 

If I stop and think, I'd feel prickles inside my gut and they travel up to my esophagus, all the way to my brain and it stops my receptors. I stare at space and nothing will move inside my body, as my tongue freezes and I will mute for as long as I keep thinking of yesterday. The triggers come in so many forms, without warning and often because I yearn so much. For love, for babies, for cuddles with a handsome bear or being in a home full of children of my own. Often, I feel shame for it, because I should contain my emotions and swear it to secrecy to avoid vulnerability to the outside world. 

 

If I stop and think about what happen with him and feel sad about it, the prickles excites sad memories that somehow my Dad can feel miles away and his eyes moistens as he tells me, "I'm still here, honey. And I love you." I wonder about me as a daughter and as a woman, if I make my parents proud and my siblings happy. Some days, I cry, and cry, and cry, because I feel I could do better. The prickles comes down to my stomach again, and my gut tells me, "you have a long way to go. Just keep going, keep working, keep hoping, and keep praying." That's all I can do, as I take it as it comes.

 

If I stop and rest for too long, my body slumps and the bones in my flesh gravitates to my couch and down goes my energy. It creates a habit that is so difficult to break because it creates a thick wall that stops my running from starting. If I let it be, this lazy bones becomes fragile and old, aging and brittle as my hair greys and silvers, and my face is of a bride with white hair. I become a nightmare and even during Christmas, my spirit will not be in joy.

 

If I keep going, with a bit of a rest, but keeping at it, not letting go, striving for it and knocking at God's door. I enter a realm where those prickles becomes energy and it spreads throughout my body, emerging out of my skin with tiny needles flying out, breaking away stale air. If I don't stop to think so much, I focus on my now and live my present for each moment at a time. I will walk my pace and I don't anticipate the future as I try to work my best. The triggers will always be there and the prickles comes up to haunt me sometimes as I keep moving with a gait on a mission. I stop caring about what Satan says about me and the thoughts of what might be. I will not stop to think, only to rest of a moment, even with a tired body.

 

Giving it my all, one day a time. Just write.

The Blind Dog Cafe bustled with customers on Black Friday, because Pearl Street in Boulder was a scene for the holidays each year. The cafe was just a block away from the main strip, as it drew customers from the local neighborhoods. John and Edith* were no stranger to the cafe with this being their tenth year as a blind couple, living in a small apartment on Spruce Street. They walked to the cafe this cold crisp Black Friday evening, holding hands with their white canes in opposite hands.

 

"Do you remember when we first met?" asked Edith, searching with her cane for a safe passage.

 

"Of course I remembered, your voice was tender and I couldn't stop the tingles on my spines," said John.

 

"You sounded like Morgan Freeman. Then you told me your last name was Hesselbeck, so I had to talk to you some more," said Edith. "It was a voice of experience and comfort. It soothed me."

 

"A woman's voice carries her heart, and I can hear a bitch from a mile away," said John, his white cane bumped onto a tree on planted Earth.

 

"Bitches be bitchin. They're in a sound proof room in heaven, that's the truth, so Jesus won't have to put up with them**," said Edith. "If I wasn't blind I would still marry you."

 

"That's the sweetest thing you said today, Edith," said John. "You'd rather marry me than that Beast of a Prince in Beauty and the Beast? The man looked good in Braille."

 

"Of course, honey. He's fantasy, and you know he'd leave me if there was a Belle in the horizon," said Edith. "The fact is, I'm blind, and we are both soulmates."

 

"I wondered why we're the handicapped, when a lot of people are born without a heart. They're missing the most common gene in the world. Kindness," said John.

 

They approached the street light, and Edith's cane hit the light pole. She pressed the button and heard the beeps as John held her free hand tight as they were about to cross the street.

 

"You know how people helped us when we were little?" asked Edith. "I bet they never stopped helping."

 

"I think you're right," said John. "I think the more kindness there are inside a human being, the more love lives inside this world."

 

The crossing signal beeped as John and Edith walked together towards The Blind Dog. There was a barista at the counter as expected, and as usual, John and Edith ordered their favorite cups of treats.

 

"Ron, is that you?" asked John. Ron was always there on Friday nights, and The Blind Dog was his usual gig.

 

"Yes, sir," said Ron. "Edith, you want your tumeric ginger latte?"

 

"Now that's the sound of a man who paid attention," said Edith. "Yes, Ron, let me have a cup, please."

 

"John, what are you having?" asked Ron, punching the item on his cash register.

 

"Half calf Americano, please," said John. "Can you pour a two percent at three inches from the top?"

 

"Will do, sir," said Ron.

 

"Let's go to France tonight," said John.

 

"By the Eiffel Tower, and you proposed to me?" asked Edith.

 

"Then we hold hands in the corner and eat something sugary," said John, in a bit of a giggle.

 

"Peppermint, plenty of them. I can smell it. Christmas is a few weeks away," said Edith.

 

"We can cuddle and pretend no one is watching," said John.

 

"We won't care because we're blind," giggled Edith.

 

"We can sip on our treats and think of London," said John. "And talk about that time when the Braille nubs misspelled port into portly."

 

Edith laughed, and said, "I can pretend I'm a blonde. With blue eyes."

 

John laughed, and replied, "Then we can dress up. Me, in a chaplin hat, and you in a red chiffon dress."

 

"Our lives are more glamourous blind than with our eyes," said Edith.

 

"I think that's the miracle of being us," said John. "There is no handicap with imagination."

 

Edith took his hand and kissed it, as they waited in line for their treats at the cafe. Christmas was just a few weeks away, but John and Edith lived in a world where Christmas as well as romance was an everyday tradition. They lived in reality with the light of their hearts and minds, and through them they were never in the dark. 

 

Just write.

 

* - J.R.R. Tolkien and Edith Tolkien

** - Derived from God Help the Child by Toni Morrison.

It was a time of youth that I claimed love for literature in all of its forms, to hold true my heart of its ode to time and languages. I shall never discriminate any form of writings from all spaces and out of all mediums in this planet to educate myself of the true love of literature. 

 

All genres and all styles I shall forever learn, because I was already in love since I was young. And this Christmas, I won't neglect the classics.

 

I knew I was in love and this Christmas, I made a vow to own it to seep all of my juice from literature forever. I covered myself in stories and books since I was a child, and I won't be able to stop. It will forever be my creative habit. As I enjoyed the Christmas season with its lights and sweet flavors, I will return to my one true love, books and words. It might be lonely at first, but the payoff was always more rewarding than heartbreaks. I desired true love in human form, that I won't argue with, but since I found myself without a soulmate, I will keep loving, but in a literary form. 

 

For one thing, I won't have the funds to do otherwise, and with the Christmas season coming, utility bills will be my priority. However, my primary affection will remain literature and the art of it. Creative writings and what I blog will center my soul with grounding efforts to become more than I ever imagined, a good writer.

 

Not just for Christmas, but this true love was always inside me. Believe in me or not, I won't count on others to affirm. 

 

I shall do so myself, and I already started.

 

Just write.

 

As beautiful as a pair of doves, were two lovebirds in the woods, near the Kingdom of Locksford. The young maiden's wavy hair was as dark as onyx with eyes as green as leaves and her skin was as tawny as the Earth. The Prince's shoulder length hair was brown as oak with large eyes as dark as coals and his skin as beautiful as ivory. They kissed and sang the most of beautiful love songs professing their love for each other. She lived not far yonder inside a commoner's cottage, but he was the Prince of Locksford and the king and queen awaited him home inside their castle.

 

"What must we do, my love?" she asked him. "I am just a poor villager."

 

"Not to worry. I will travel home and you shall fetch me in a fortnight to the gates of my castle. I will meet you there, and we will tell my parents about our plans. Then we will be joined in marriage by our priest, thereafter," he said. "No one will harm us, because I am the Prince and I can plead to my parents for their blessings."

 

"I shall meet you at the gates, my love," she said. "I will follow you shortly after you leave."

 

"Keep this handkerchief and this heirloom coin. For both will be your ticket into our city gates to meet me," he said. He bid her farewell only for short while, or so he thought, as he rode off on his black stallion to ask for his parent's permission and prepare for the imminent matrimony.

 

The young maiden walked to her cottage and took what was left of her belonging from her humble home, to prepare for travels to meet her prince charming. She slept the night away in dreams of love and a happily ever after.

 

The next day, on her journey to the city gates, a pack of wolves brutally attacked her. Her body was bloody and wounded and her belongings were destroyed. She had nothing but her tattered clothes and the two tokens of love from her prince.

 

Two sisters were walking in the woods and saw the remnants of the beautiful maiden on the ground.

 

"Is she dead?" Nahla, the older sister asked.

"She is but a carcass of dog meat. Let us leave her," said Mahla, the younger sister.

 

"I am alive, please help me," pleaded the wounded maiden.

 

Nahla and Mahla took the maiden and carried her back to their cottage by her arms and legs.  The maiden was heaving and the two sisters realized that the young maiden was near her last breath.

 

"I am to meet my love, the Prince of Locksford," said the maiden, as blood spurted out of her gut. "Can you help me?"

 

"The Prince of Locksford?" said Nahla, aghast, as her eyes became fierce with fires. Mahla was suddenly filled with jealousies and asked, "I deserve to meet the Prince of Locksford. How about did you meet such a man of prominence? You are nothing but dog meat!" said Mahla.

 

"But, I must tell him what happened. I have his handkerchief. Could you give this to him? And tell him I was savaged, but I will always love him?" said the maiden, heaving in tears of sorrow and suffering.

 

"I will do it, and I will see if the Prince will take me as his friend," said Nahla. Nahla smirked, because she was in joy for the beautiful maiden was dying in pain.

 

Nahla left her home and left Mahla with the maiden, and as the maiden cried in grief, Mahla asked her, "How would you know if he received the message if Nahla will not return? If I was in her shoes, I would take the Prince and tell him you were no longer his bride. Then perhaps, he would take me instead."

 

"Oh dear sister, please help me. It is my last wish, to tell him that I am forever in love with him," said the dying maiden.

 

Mahla asked her, "Then you will die alone?"

 

"Please take this coin for assurance that he will receive my message.  Please tell him, I am forever his, and his love is etched inside my soul, forever," said the maiden, with her last breath.

 

Mahla, still in disbelief of the maiden's death, took a knife and stabbed her through her heart to guarantee her death. She took the coin the maiden gave her and left to Locksford, to meet the Prince.

 

When the two sisters arrived at the gates, they were both angry at each other; because there were two tokens, not one, that might confuse the Prince of Locksford from choosing a replacement.

 

"What brings you here?" asked the Prince, in his full regalia, awaiting his bride.

 

"We are here to tell you, that your love had changed her mind," said Nahla.

 

"I was given this coin to tell you that I am to replace her," said Mahla.

 

"That is not true, my Prince. I was given this handkerchief. I am to replace her," said Nahla.

 

The Prince was devastated and his sadness overwhelmed him, as he dropped to his knees and wept that all of the angels in heaven felt his grief.

 

In heaven, the Lord of Lords saw the misfortune of the young maiden, whose spirit entered the pearly gates. He summoned his angels to bring the maiden's spirit into his court.

 

"Bring me the young woman. I have a plan for her. A plan to prosper her, not to harm her. A plan for a future and a hope. A plan for love," the Lord said.

 

The angels took the maiden's spirit and her soul was brought in judgment by the Lord's court.

 

"You were beaten and savaged. Was this true?" the Lord said.

 

"Yes, my Lord," said the young maiden, who faced death before her time.

 

"He loves you, The Prince of Locksford. You were meant to be together," said the Lord.

 

In the Kingdom of Locksford, the Prince spent all of his days and nights in his regalia on the seat of his throne, awaiting in tears for his beautiful bride. Each tear drop he cried became a million more and as he wept, the tears became gushing water that swept the villages and forests, as his castle flooded with tears. If his tears were made of gold, the Kingdom of Locksford would drown in treasures everlasting.

 

Nahla and Mahla were upset that they had to scale the castle walls and ceilings to find the highest points over ground to escape the waters.

 

"He loved her! What a weak soul he has," said Mahla.

 

"Only a fool would cry over lost love," said Nahla. "His bride will never come back to him. She was dog meat!"

 

Their lips spoke of the rotting hearts inside their souls, but the Prince cared not of their commentaries nor their beauty. They felt wrong, and he wept away, as he tried to heal through unleashing his emotion in prayers.

 

Each tear drop the Prince wept were collected in large glass jars by the angels and as millions of jars filled the heavenly sanctuaries, the Lord of all Lords sighed in affirmation to return true love to the Prince.

 

The Lord of Lords kissed the cheek of the young maiden, and instantly, she was brought to her prince. At that moment, her soul was given a second chance in true love. She was dressed in an iridescent gown, made of silk and diamonds, with a crown made of gold and rubies.

 

He saw her in front of his eyes as he fell to his knees out of sheer surprise and joy. The waters from his tears immersed into the ground and became the nutrients for the village and the forests. The trees and flowers around the castle bloomed and decorated the once flooded surrounding into blossoming springtime.

 

The Prince and the young maiden ran into each other's arms, and he asked her, "Did you send the two sisters to replace our love?"

 

"No, my love. It was my last dying wish to send them with a message that I loved you, till my dying days," said the maiden. "I was attacked by wolves in the midst of my travel."

 

"Who were the two sisters to you?" asked the Prince.

 

"I thought they would help me, so I gave them your tokens for me to send it to you. for our wedding day. But, they murdered me, instead," said the maiden.

 

The Prince of Locksford was angry and drew his sword out of its sheath and called his guards.

 

"Find me the two sisters with my handkerchief and coin. Bring them to me at once!" said the Prince.

 

The guards took the two sisters, and told them that the Prince had asked for their presence in the court.

 

"Is this the time of our marriage, sister?" said Nahla.

 

"I hope he will only take me, as his bride, and leave you inside your home, forever," said Mahla.

 

Nahla and Mahla fought and ripped each other's clothes, but the guards separated them and brought them to the Prince at once.

 

"Off with their heads. They have committed a grave crime. Fraud and blackmail! A crime amongst our people and an insult to the church!" commanded the Prince to the guards.  

 

And the two sisters were beheaded.

 

In heaven, the Lord saw the souls of the two sisters and told them.

 

"It is with great joy, that you both shall serve the worlds' worst criminals by cleaning their wastes inside their dungeons. For all eternity," said the Lord.

 

In the Kingdom of Locksford, the Prince realized his maiden was unprotected and was left in the forest amongst wolves, tigers, bears and many more carnivorous animals. He realized he should not have left love without attention or a clear pathway to love's return. He should have pleaded to the king and queen for a just approval of their love and appealed to never be harmed for their unconventional marriage.

 

Nahla and Mahla were random strangers whom the maiden desperately asked for help, after a tragic accident, and it was still common for the cruel world to harm the vulnerable and destroy innocent lives to claim selfish glory.

 

Thankfully, the Lord of Lords gave the Princess a second chance in life, and the Prince wanted to reclaim love and faithful loyalty to his maiden. After the approval of the King and Queen of the Kingdom of Locksford, they resumed their plans to wed and formed a family. The Kingdom of Locksford bloomed and their harvest multiplied as the Royal Family grew in numbers with a princess in waiting.

 

Unconventional marriages became a tradition for the Kingdom of Locksford, as royalties and prominent families married commoners who took their breath away, and previously married men and women were given second chances in love.

 

The tears of the Prince of Locksford gave so much harvest to the sunflowers in the fields as new buds grew each day. Sunflowers became the symbol of the Kingdom of Locksford, and as tradition, a prince would bring a blossom of it to his maiden for their first engagement, ever after.

 

Just write. The End.