We are not young, but neither are we old. Life is not before us, nor behind us, we are astride our life, living in it, making it what it is. We each have our mate and family, the in-laws and outlaws and friends, we are not part of each other’s world of real life. But here in this place which is not the world of our real lives we have each other to help us build a second and secret life from the dreams and desires we set aside to live in the world of our public reality.
You see, in this place the perfect stranger rule holds, we don’t share the names we use in our world of real life, we don’t share the details. We have no more idea about those than you do. We really don't know each other at all, even though we know the most intimate details of each other's dreams. What we do know is there is a freedom here to be found nowhere else.
There is only one exception to the perfect stranger rule and that is of course Mrs. A and myself. We were on the periphery of each other’s world when we co-authored the first of these stories. No one else in our real life knows of our stories, but we do know each other's name and face. We carry a love for each other and to protect the love between us we refuse to become part of each other’s first and public life even in secret. When she moved away a few months after we began I didn't ask, and she didn't offer, her new address... we put ourselves as close to perfect strangers as we could.
But as the affair played out in it's strange intimacy we found the stories we'd built between us proved of value in understanding how the person we are beneath the surface fits and functions within the world of our public reality, and so we’ve agreed to share these stories with you as an invitation to take a pen name, and a partner, and when you and your partner are satisfied with a story share what you built between you. Who knows who might find some bit of understanding in someone else’s story that will, in the end, become the wisdom needed to nurture, preserve and protect what is wholesome in the world of real life.
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===originally published 7/2012===
So, is this the flyleaf from some publication of a writers club, or is it perhaps the first of the stories in such a work? Would you join such a club?
Hmmm...an interesting invitation. Would this be considered adultery by certain standards? :)
ReplyDelete*chuckle* I don't know... is it? If it is then there is a lot of adultery being rented... in the adult section of the video store ;-)
DeleteIndeed. *laugh* My own take is that such things should perhaps not be done without the express knowledge and consent of all life-partners involved. However, at times there may be extenuating circumstances...
DeleteHmmm...The captcha code for that reply was "68"; one number different and it would have been quite serendipitous. ;)
DeleteAt first blush, [no pun intended], it wouldn't be for me, I think. But, to put some reality into personal fantasy, or to share one's fantasy could, I suppose, add value. It's hard to say, 'nos. Would this tend to 'push aside' possible ongoing or future 'live' relationships? Brings to mind the recent movie, "Her". :shrug: pip
ReplyDelete