Valentine’s Noir « nightdreamer

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Valentine’s Noir

February 14, 2008

[this is a work of fiction]

With a bag hanging heavily on my right shoulder, I strode. I wanted to leave, lickety-split, unburdened by signs that this was yet another Valentine’s Day spent solitarily. "Only a few minutes and I’ll be home," I said to myself, "locked in my room - my sanctuary - reading, daydreaming, and videogaming. For solace." Valentine’s Day is just a day, but it drags on and is more all-over-the-place than Thanksgivings. Just look: Violins playing, bards serenading, couples cuddling: they’re all falls of civilization. I wasn’t even going to be bothered by the thesis paper I wrote on my head – the theory that every Feb 14 is the record day of the year for the start of pregnancy, which will only assert that people don’t even try to be creative these days; like, make babies only on Feb 29. That’s four years per sex! Nobody does that! Don’t they understand the joy of delayed gratification any more? I swear, back in the days they blah blah blah. Today, such thoughts, they did not bother me, and I was doing well in minding my own business and heading home. But, there’s just one bugger that I cannot flee from. It’s that place, that quadrangle at the center of all buildings - without passing there I can’t go anywhere.

Sure enough, it was packed. My route was interrupted by bazaars selling amative goods, and by a crowd of last minute shoppers. People never learn to shop early: what’s the excuse today, that flowers are ephemeral? As if there’s nothing else to buy for your love. Geez. What did I say about the state of the civilization again. Right… people, bazaar, flowers, people bazaar, flowers, all signs of one truth: my exit will be delayed.

My musings got crudely interrupted by the call of my name. It’s from a girl I know. A girl I like. A girl who likes someone else, oh good grief. “Are you going to spend your Valentine’s Day with anyone?” she asked, I don’t know if officiously or if mockingly. If I told her I’m free, would the import of that word be “all right, we can be together”? What other words should I use then, I pondered.

“Coz I’m selling paper flowers here. Maybe you’d like to buy them for your sweetie?” she followed, also interrupting my thoughts.

Now that ought to be awkward. You’re facing the girl you like but cannot be with because she has someone else, so you can’t give her roses, but she’s selling you the ersatz ones so you can give them to someone. It’s like being face-palmed two times, like I’m being told “Oh so you can’t get the girl that you want? Too bad, then, just find a second best girl and buy her second best roses.” What do I make of this, a poignant psychological experiment?

A voice finally left the barrier of my teeth, carrying with it all my pent up bitterness. “Hahaha,” I pretended to laugh. “but what would I need paper roses for? Who do I give them to?” I knew it was understood that paper roses weren’t very nice. How will she sell hers then? How will she tell me they’re better than the real thing?

“Paper roses are fine things”, she answered. “They do not die like real flowers. Plus, it takes some effort to create them, and you can see that this one, the ones I’m selling, they’re labors of love.”

Love. How canorous. I was moved. I can’t ever resist hearing any girl saying that word; now what more from the girl that I like? I couldn’t think rationally, except that I would buy these flowers for no one in particular, but I’ll do it for her sake anyway. It did look like her labor of love, after all. So if I can’t be her love, why not just try to make her happy? “Okay, I’ll buy one,” I gave her the cash, "and I’m giving it to you."

“Why, thank you. I’m flattered” she answered. But it wasn’t her words that told the whole story.

It was the way she said it.

These happened two years ago. I heard she’s married now.

Posted by nightdreamer at 4:54 pm | permalink

Previous Comments

:( *sniff sniff*

Posted by Jen at February 14, 2008, 7:04 pm

Wonderful work of fiction! I enjoyed it immensely.

Posted by virus at February 14, 2008, 7:22 pm

a few grammatical errors and typos. you might want to give your descriptive paragraphs more focus, that is, try to avoid irrelevant sentences.

i see where you’re coming from, but i didn’t get the ending. it might be that i am stupid or that you did not execute it properly.

overall, it’s nice. more practice though.

Posted by liz at February 14, 2008, 8:08 pm

We all went through the same experience. You are not alone.

Posted by Schumey at February 14, 2008, 8:38 pm

hmmmm… why are people so mushy during valentines?

Posted by J at February 14, 2008, 8:44 pm

Here’s a little behind the scenes:

I was writing this while in the office. My work for that day is done then, so I merely wanted to stay for 30 minutes so I can write. Little did I think that I would go way past 30 minutes. I took an hour, and everyone’s wondering why I’m so immersed in doing something PC related when it’s Valentine’s Day today. So everyone was like “Hey nightdreamer, doncha wanna go home? I’m leaving now, bye” and I was like “Wait! Wait! Gimme a few more minutes”. Needless to say, I posted this entry in a hurry, which explains the lack of structure. haha. Oh well, lesson for that is to never write short stories on the fly. Even if they’re short.

Anyway, I did correct some of the grammatical errors (ouch! andami! hahaha!), but that’s it. I’m done with this short story and will think of something new, next time. This is the first short story I’ve ever written, after all.

The ending, liz, was made that way because I want my readers to think about what that means.

Posted by nightdreamer at February 14, 2008, 9:08 pm

really nice, kris! more!

Posted by mewific at February 14, 2008, 9:55 pm

not too shabby, man.. i liked it. woulda been better if the characters hooked up for a graphic lovefest on top of the paper flowers, though. ; )

just kidding!!!

Posted by Brad at February 15, 2008, 1:02 pm

Thanks Brad, but you’re definitely better. I still have a lot of SIFTing to do.

Posted by nightdreamer at February 15, 2008, 1:03 pm

Sad. It’s either the guy is torpe or the girl is manhid.

Fiction, you say? This could easily be true!

Posted by Joni at February 15, 2008, 1:58 pm

i guess i’m now reading the edited work. very nice one, kris. and the hanging ending, i’ve done similar endings and some of my readers (offline) want more.

Posted by novz at February 19, 2008, 12:44 pm

Ah, but this is the end of the story. You’re left to your own devices understanding what that meant. Sadly, nobody got it right. I guess I didn’t supply enough descriptions.

But, thanks for the compliments.

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