Love Affair

         The rain fell gently outside while Billy and his grandfather sat at the dining room table.  Billy was drawing a picture, and his grandfather was playing a game of solitaire. 

        Billy finished the picture and held it up for his grandfather to see.  “What do you think, Papa?” 

        Billy’s grandfather looked up to see his drawing.  As with any four-year-old, the picture had some stick-figures on it, a couple of round shapes, a rainbow, and a big heart. 

        “Awe, well, isn’t that nice Billy,” his grandfather replied.  “Why don’t you tell me about it?” he asked.

        “Well, here’s my day, my mom, and my big brother,” Billy pointed out.  “And over here is our dog, Max, and our cat, Roxy.  The rainbow is god smiling down on us, and the heart shows the love we have for our family.”

        That last statement took his grandfather by surprise.  That’s very intuitive for a four-year-old, his grandfather thought.

        Billy looked up into his grandfather’s eyes; he could see warmth and love radiating in them.  “Do you ever miss grandma, Papa?” Billy asked.

        “Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her.  One day we’ll be reunited, but for now, I still have things to do in this world,” his grandfather said with a smile on his face.

        Billy sat there and let his words soak in.  Then he turned to his grandfather and asked, “Did you ever love anyone before grandma?”

        A big grin spread across his grandfather’s face.  “Oh, yes!  Yes, I did,” his grandfather began.

         “She was beautiful, very alluring, loved to play games, and was a magnificent dancer!”  Billy could see his grandfather’s eyes light up when he started talking about her.  “The only problem was, she had a boyfriend.”

         “A boyfriend?  Were you scared of him?”

         “Well, you see, Billy, I wasn’t really worried about her boyfriend.”

         “Why’s that?” Billy asked.

         “Because, Billy, her boyfriend was an overbearing, narcissistic, a-hole, that never paid any attention to her.  I knew with enough time; I could win her over.  True Love always wins.”

         “Narcis…scissors?  What does that mean?”  Billy asked.

         “It means that he was very mean and always mistreated her,” his grandfather replied.

         “So, what did you do, Papa?”

         “Well, first, I started by just smiling.”

         “Just smiling?” Billy asked.

         “Yeah, just smiling.  She was shy, so I’d show up and just smile at her.  No need for words or anything else, just smile.  After some time went by of just smiling, she finally started to let her guard down.  She was pretty scared of her boyfriend finding out, so it took a while, but I was patient.  I had all the patients in the world for someone as beautiful as her.”

         “Wow, Papa.  So, what’d you do then?”

         “Well, knowing she liked to play games, I asked her to if she wanted to play a game with me.”

         “Did she?”

         “She was hesitant at first because she didn’t want her boyfriend to find out.  So, we started only playing for a little bit at a time, always worried that her boyfriend would come bounding around the corner.”

         “Then, came the fateful day, the day I took her by the hand and asked her to dance.”

         “What did she say?” asked Billy.

         “She looked deep into my eyes, and I could see my Soul reflecting in hers.  She looked around for her boyfriend, turned back to me, and breathlessly said ‘yes’.”

        “Our first dance.  It was short but magical.  From that day forward, I would show up and ask her to dance.  Sometimes we would dance all day and others, only a short time, all depending on her boyfriend.”

        “Then, one day, her boyfriend found out!”

        “Oh, no!  Did he try to beat you up?”

        “No, he didn’t try to fight me; he just took her away.  He took her and locked her up.”

        “Locked her up?” Billy asked.

        “Well, not literally, but he never let her out of his sight.  This went on for some time, until one day, I decided that I couldn’t live without her and mustered up the courage to go face him.” 

        Billy’s eyebrows raised in anticipation.  “What did you do, Papa?”

        “He could see me coming, so he grabbed her and shoved her behind him, creating a barrier between us.  He puffed out his chest, held his burly arms by his side, and clenched his fists.  He was a terrifying sight, but I didn’t care.  I was willing to die that day.”

        “I walked straight up to that son-of-a-bitch and popped him square in the nose!  Blood started gushing all over, but I didn’t stop to watch.  I just walked right by, grabbed her by the hand, and took her away.”

        “Wow, Papa!  Did he come after you?”

        “He tried from time to time, but I just stared him down and raised my fist to him.  Eventually, he gave up and left us alone forever.”

        Billy sat there in amazement, taking it all in.

        “What was her name, Papa?”

        “Muse,” said his grandfather.

        “Muse,” replied Billy with a strange look on his face.  That’s a funny name.  “What was her boyfriend’s name?”

        “Resistance.”

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