The girl felt badly for the boy underneath her anger and her feelings of betrayal. But, she wouldn't let herself look too closely. She went about her life with Darkly, wrapping him around her tightly. The girl entered the great school of How Things Work. Many people called it the school of Meaning for short. She knew, from her first conversations as a child with the Being, that understanding How Things Work was what her life's work was all about.

  So, away she went. She still thought of the boy every once in a while. As years passed her feelings for him turned from anger, to pain, to chagrin, to guilt and finally to shame. She hoped the boy was doing well. She hoped that he was having fun learning how to build, and that he had met a girl he could love. But, deep down she knew the boy would be alone when she next met him.

  Darkly grew even darker, bringing up the boy when he was especially moody and unhappy with her. The girl couldn't blame Darkly for being dissatisfied with her. She was unhappy, too. But, school took most of her time for both study and socializing, distracting her from problems with Darkly.

  The girl grew more and more unhappy with her life with Darkly. From the outside, their

relationship looked well, and most of their friends envied them. But, in the end, the girl left Darkly, taking what little courage she had left with her. Somehow she had to find something to make her feel secure. Her schoolmates became the source of security, but being insecure herself, all she could attract to her was insecure friends.

  After several months' drama, bruised hearts, misunderstandings, and disillusionment, the girl stepped back from the chaos around her and cried, "I give up, I can't take this anymore. I'm so exhausted!" She sat in bed, looking out through the cracks in her miniblinds, thinking of the boy she had done wrong years ago, thinking of Darkly.

  "These aren't your true companions," the Being said quietly in her ear.

  The girl jumped. "How would you know? You haven't been around," she retorted. She looked at the Being's appearance, and her annoyance subsided. "Hey, you're a lot smaller than you used to be. What happened?"

  The Being smiled. "You haven't wanted to hear me in a long time." It pointed to her friends. "Trust me again."

  "I really screwed things up, didn't I?" she said to the Being who was once again perched on the end of her bed. "I was really cruel to the Boy. I should have left Darkly a long time ago."

  The Being smiled. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You thought the Boy was abandoning you. You needed the support of Darkly. You did the best you knew how."

  The girl sighed, comforted. "It's all getting rather old, this search for the perfect relationship."

  "Well, what do you really want in a mate?" The Being asked her.

  The girl lay back, her arms crossed behind her head. "I want someone I can wake up to, and when he sees me awake, he holds me and kisses me. Someone that's not afraid to show his love for me. Someone who's so pure of motive that I don't have to worry what he's really thinking. Someone who's not afraid to be himself. Someone who believes in me so I can truly be myself. That's who I want."

  The Being said as she drifted into sleep, "You'll have exactly what you want. Just imagine and then watch for it."

  So, over the next few days, the girl kept her eyes open. She caught the eye of Quietly Dreaming as he studied alone. She had never paid much attention to Quietly because he was so silent, and seemed to interact with no one. They went out to dinner a few times, and to her surprise, the girl had a fun time.

  That night, Quietly came over to watch TV with her before he had to leave for work. The girl sat on the bed next to him, comfortable in his presence, her hand twined around his. She could feel the Being near by, and had the distinct impression of approval.

  She looked into large almond eyes, and saw calm serenity reflected there. She saw her wish, just as she had asked for it. She smiled, laughing to herself at the work of the Being, and its sense of humor, giving her the man that she would have never noticed if she hadn't asked for him. She barely knew Quietly at all, but knew he was right for her. They leaned closer together, lips brushing. The girl fell in love again.

  Several years later, around the time that the girl and Quietly Dreaming were married, the boy was working on his buildings. He had finished school, and was back living close to home, working as he always knew he would. And alone as he always knew he would be.

  Having no one to share his life with was a lonely state, but he had grown used to it. It would be nice if someone were around to help him try out his newly finished project. He sat on the steps, admiring his craftsmanship. He didn't notice the skinny red headed girl standing beside him, her head cocked to the side.

  "Can I try it?" she asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

  "Sure, why not," he replied, and helped her into the contraption, showing her all the physical wonders he had created from his imagination.

  He didn't notice the girl watching him closely, even though the bright Voice within him had noted her as someone important. He didn't want to know. So he didn't pay attention.

  For weeks the girl hung around his home, always a persistent presence. He remained indifferent. The company was nice, and she was genuinely interested in what he was doing. And slowly he discovered that she had just finished high school, and was about to become a warrior.

  "Why a warrior?" he asked her, looking at her scrawny frame and freckled face.

  "Because I want adventure. I want to go places. I want to be free. Being a warrior will take me there."

  He shrugged, going back to his work. He didn't notice that the girl eyed him expectantly. He would not pay attention. Paying attention to anything but his work hurt.

  So, he thought nothing of accepting Freely Sailing's invitation to the movies one night. He thought nothing of her direct looks, and so was taken by surprise when he felt her hand slip into his.

  Staring down at the small hand around his own, he wondered why he hadn't noticed her before. Of course she had been there for months now, the whole summer. What patience to bother with him. His cracked and broken heart, sealed shut now for years, melted, and the boy found himself wrapped up in emotions long forgotten.

  And so the summer passed, Freely and the Boy reveled in being in love. Freely seemed more and more golden to the Boy, a paragon of his ideal woman, the free spirit he had always admired. But she was leaving to become a warrior. The loss of her loomed large ahead. The Boy, not wanting it to end, called out as she went away to school, "Don't let them change you!"

  A futile request. Freely was just eighteen, and had to change. Her whole purpose was to go away and learn how to be the warrior as the Boy had become a builder. But the boy held her to her original image and could not let go. Freely was the salve for his loneliness. She was the only one who had bothered to penetrate his exterior and locate his heart.

  When Freely fell in love again with someone else, the Boy would not accept it. Freely, astounded by his surety, came back after that relationship was over. If the boy could be so convinced of their relationship, maybe she should take a closer look.

  But, coming back to the boy always put her into an old role. It fit, but it did not fit well. When she was away, she missed the Boy terribly, but when she was near him, she knew with certainty that he couldn't be right for her.

  As the years passed, that part of her deep within knew if she continued with the boy she'd be Freely Sailing no longer, but his certainty, and his devotion to her always swayed her mind. Each time she came back, she felt herself caving into the boy's perceptions of her; each time she left, she felt as if she had saved her life.

Click here to read more...