"Got the time?"
Looks at watch. "It is just about that time."
"I thought so." Sandwich back in the bag. Half finished bottle of juice tossed into the trash. "Thanks."
Once again she steals away
Then she reaches out to kiss me
And how she takes my breath away
Pretending that she don't miss me
He is not at all sure why he is in the railway terminal, and never was sure why he came there or how he even got there. Some transitions just make themselves more clear than others. The train schedule shows no trains going his way. He has no ticket for any of them. There are only two crumpled up dollar bills in his pocket. There is also thirty-five cents. He wonders if he should have held onto the half finished bottle of juice after all. It is too late to change his mind.
Outside the sun is beginning to break through the clouds. A child walks up to him and hands him a note. He nods, sensing this is not in any way unusual. She doesn't wait for a tip. She's too young to understand the concept. She also knows he doesn't have the money for one.
He decides to read the note later.
Sometimes he wonders if later will ever come. The note is an insurance policy against that. The note demands to be read.
He bides his time. He lights a cigarette.
Oh...I would bleed to love her
Ooooh...bleed to love her
Whoa...I would bleed to love her
He isn't quite sure where this railway station is. Once he resolves to get his bearings, he comes to realize he is not where he thought he expected himself to be. The sun drifts behind a cloud. It is a cloud that looks like a dragon, but at least the dragon has wings.
When she comes towards him, he remembers. This is where he is and where he expected to be. It was only a moment of forgetting. She seems to smile, but he can tell she is uncertain. There were times when she thought about not coming at all. The moment of forgetting was insulation against that possibility.
"Is there really any magick left in this world?" she asks, stopping no closer than three feet away from where he stood.
He looks up at the building that houses the railway terminal. "I imagine there must," he says honestly. "There are many things outside the obvious."
"That's a pretty cliche statement."
"I know. Just seeing if you are paying attention."
"When have I not paid attention?"
He steps toward her and she does not back away. He stops, two feet away from her and looks shamefully at the half-eaten sandwich in his left hand.
"We all have to eat what we are given."
"Food has never filled me."
"Is that why you are always hungry?"
"Usually not for food. It is important not to worry about what you want or what you need, too many needs spoil the cloth. More important to know who you might be."
"I know. When was the last time you weren't sure what to do?"
He steps another foot closer and stops again. He can feel her now, they are only twelve inches apart. Still, the distance is causing his mind to reel. She only smiles.
"How long ago was now?"
And once again she calls to me
Then she vanishes in thin air
And how she takes my breath away
Pretending that she dont care
It starts to rain. Quite suddenly it begins and just as suddenly it turns into a violent downpour. He protects what remains of his sandwich and looks for the nearest cover, more for her than for himself, but then he notices she is no longer there.
He stops looking for shelter, even as logic and reason tell him the nearest shelter is where he will find her. He knows this will not be the case. Such hopes could only lead him down the road to disillusionment. He is not yet prepared to take that step.
He lets the torrential rain drench his clothes until it soaks through to the marrow in his bones. In his mind he is taking the rain so that she need not. He imagines she has already been caught in one too many deluges of rain and fire in her life.
"And we've only just begun," mocks a voice in the clouds.
Somebodys got to see this through
All the world is laughing at you
Somebody's got to sacrifice
If this whole thing's gonna turn out right
Never listen to the voices of the mortals, he tells himself. They only see things from their own perspective, and all perspectives are corrupted by the past experiences and memories of the perceiver. He can only trust his own perspective, and perhaps not even that. There are reasons for this, and they go beyond what anyone can reason.
It is a river. The rain cannot but fill the river. The river cannot drown the rain. He will stand in the rain for as long as it takes. One day she will appear again. By that time he expects to be dry.
The sandwich is soggy now. He eats it anyway.
He is still hungry.
He closes his eyes to the rain. It brings him into a great hall, filled with such things that remind him of a distant time of chivalry, kings and queens. There is a plate of warm food in front of him and a cup of hot tea in his right hand.
He drinks and feels himself filled once more.
He still has not read the note. It is enough that he knows who it is from.
Oh...I would bleed to love her
Ooooh...bleed to love her
Whoa...I would bleed to love her
Lyrics by Lindsey Buckingham
Special thanks to Lindsey Buckingham
From the band and everyone else.
No one can possibly thank Lindsey Buckingham enough.
If you don't constantly thank him he will have a nervous breakdown.
Lyrics used without his permission,
Or of the publishing company,
Or anyone, whatsoever.
Fair use and other assorted catchy phrases are used now.
Lindsey is going to absolutely freak out.
Dedicated to Daniela.