Everything is Illuminated
Jun. 21st, 2008 09:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
levityI love you, she said. I do.
No you don't, he said.
But I do, she said, touching his hair.
No. It's OK. I know you're much smarter than me, Brod, and that I'm not good enough for you. I was always waiting for you to figure it out. Every day. I felt like the czar's food taster, waiting for the night when the dinner would be poisoned.
Stop, she said. It's not true. I do love you.
You stop.
But I love you.
It's OK. I'm OK. She touched the puffy blackness around his left eye. The down, which the saw blade had released from the pillow, clung to the tears on their cheeks. Listen, he said, I'll be dead soon.
Stop.
We both know it.
Stop.
There's no use in avoiding it.
Stop.
And I wonder if you could just pretend for a while, if we could pretend to love each other. Until I'm gone.
Silence.
No you don't, he said.
But I do, she said, touching his hair.
No. It's OK. I know you're much smarter than me, Brod, and that I'm not good enough for you. I was always waiting for you to figure it out. Every day. I felt like the czar's food taster, waiting for the night when the dinner would be poisoned.
Stop, she said. It's not true. I do love you.
You stop.
But I love you.
It's OK. I'm OK. She touched the puffy blackness around his left eye. The down, which the saw blade had released from the pillow, clung to the tears on their cheeks. Listen, he said, I'll be dead soon.
Stop.
We both know it.
Stop.
There's no use in avoiding it.
Stop.
And I wonder if you could just pretend for a while, if we could pretend to love each other. Until I'm gone.
Silence.
