CLAIMING THE CITY
“I wonder what it must be like to stand on top of the city and for the one moment, be the one with all the power in the world to create and destroy,” she says.
He looks at her from the other side of the table. She’s staring out the big windows of the cafe at the mountains in the distance.
“So all you would need to do to become the ruler of the city is to stand at the top of the city?”
A mischievous smile.
“Yes. Yes, I would. Anybody would!”
“And what exactly is the top of the city to you, then?”
She turns to look at him. Her smile is radiant.
“Why, you fool, the highest place you could ever get to!”
She stands up in a rush.
“I am going to claim this city in my name!”
He puts back the chairs against the table. Puts his wallet back in his pocket, follows her outside. She is standing outside, looking at something in the distance. She turns to him as he walks out.
“Come, my genie, today you will take me to the clouds! Today we will claim this giant city of mortals in my name!”
She bangs her hands imposingly against the car door. She drums her fingers impatiently against the car doors.
“In yonder distance, do you see that high tower that mankind has claimed for itself? That is our destination! So drive on, brave warrior mine, and we shall today scale what has been for so long in our sights but out of our reach!”
She skips and hops up the stairs. He follows her. The sun hides behind the grey clouds.
They climb up to the very top, to a breathtaking view of a city so far away. She speaks of conquests and brave soldiers, and he listens to her talk about the things of dreams.
The wind blows her hair from her face.
“And today, in the name of all that is holy, today we claim this city to be the rightful property of those who are brave, and of those who dream!”
The sun hides behind grey clouds.
****
THE RECONCILIATION ANGER
The door to the cafe opened and a young girl of about nineteen years of age came storming out. She slammed the door shut, but before it could close, it opened again. She was followed by a boy of perhaps the same age as she. An older man succeeded them out of the cafe. He calmly closed the door and followed them to where they stood.
“How dare you?; How dare you follow me all the way to here?! Haven’t you done enough already?! Haven’t I told you clearly, so many times, to stay away?”
Enraged. Fiery.
“You haven’t. All you have done is avoid me. I didn’t even know where you were, how you were! I didn’t even know if you were alive… All I wanted was to know, to be certain that you were alright…”
Petulant. Apologetic.
“I don’t need your help! I don’t need you to care, you creep!”
“And YOU!”
She turned on the older man standing some distance away. “How dare you?! Can’t you stop interfering in my life? Haven’t you interfered enough already? Is my life not enough messed up?”
Accusing. Hurtful.
The girl stabbed at her eyes. She wondered why they were moist. People cried when they were sad, not when they were angry! She was angry, wasn’t she? She was angry because her friend had betrayed her… Because she didn’t want him to worry and yet he was worrying…
She was angry because… Because she had not wanted him to know… And she was angry at him because he had told him…
She was angry because… but they had only been trying to help. They had only been helping. She was angry… Why was she angry?
Was she angry?
Her knees buckle. Her friend catches her in his arms. She does not push him away. She cries into his arms.
She cries. He watches her. He embraces her.
The arms that hold her are not the arms she wants to cry in, but they are the ones that were there the quickest to catch her fall.
The arms that hold her hold her tight, never wanting to let go of her, but knowing that they’ll have to, for in those arms are not where she belongs.
The arms that held her are the arms that wanted to comfort her. They are not the arms she wanted to cry in, but they are the ones that were offered.
*****