Oliver Benjamin
ones.”
Roy hadn’t really thought about it. He knew Sprout was one of
the most beautiful people he had ever seen, but his attraction to her
seemed broader than that. He also knew he could not express this to
Leona and so only held out his hands in frustration.
“Look,” Leona said, “I know you don’t want to hurt me. No one
ever wants to hurt anybody. Maybe even murderers. They just do. It’s
the same with lovers. So do what you have to do. I’ll do the same.”
“Will you be all right?” Roy said.
She set her teeth and said, “You pricked me, Roy, and I’m
bleeding. But I won’t die.” she pointed over to the new Biddenbrooks
store. “There’s a sign in the window, says they’re hiring. Good wages
and a benefits package apparently. I could make Gorbaccinos or
crapuccinos or Al Pacinos or whatever the fuck they’re making these
days.”
“Oh, Leona. Please don’t,” Roy said, “Look, come back.
Everything will work out.”
“Sure. For you. You’ve got it all now, don’t you? King of the
world! A small one, at least. Well, sorry. I don’t recognize your
sovereignty.”
She turned and stormed away, nearly crashing into the
loudmouthed boy, who was storming off in the other direction, Yak
in pursuit. The businessman had been right, things were indeed
starting to look a little stormy.
Tears burned Leona’s eyes as she stormed down the Promenade.
There was a time, not long before, when she believed love could save
everybody, maybe even the whole world. She read new-age books and
often held forth about The Way Things Could Be. She worked in The
Crystal Ship, a shop where patrons earnestly believed they could
transform their money into love. Now she wondered if love wasn’t
also responsible for breaking the world apart.
There was a better answer for the riddle of the Sphinx: What
creature has four legs at dawn, two at noon and three at dusk?Man
is such a mundane answer. Better that the creature should be Love.
In the beginning Love boasts four legs, two intertwined pairs
struggling ecstatically towards a union that cannot last. In middle age
its two legs walk the earth miserable and alone. Finally, at the end of
its tether, it can no longer abide the pain and deliberately falls upon
its sword.
153
 |
 |
 |
 |