The girl was talking to her friend, Rushing Headlong, on the phone one day, talking about Meaning, and Love, and Being, until Rushing asked if the boy was getting any smarter. The girl gave Rushing an account of the last conversation with him.

  "But, what else can he think with no experience and no one to ask?"

  Rushing said, "Well, maybe he heard what you said."

  "He said he'd never fall in love again."

  "HA! As if you can help that." Rushing was silent for a moment. "What's going on over there? I can tell there's something up."

  "I don't know. I hate this living my life to find Meaning. Should have called it screwing my life to find meaning."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I look at the Boy, and then I realize how wonderful Quietly is, how good we are together and how afraid I am of losing him."

  "Why are you so afraid?"

  "I can't even cheat in my dreams on Quietly."

  "Really? I do all the time!"

  "Rushing!"

  "Listen, you're hanging on way too tightly to Quietly. And that's s trouble. What's going on over there?"

  The girl, feeling ashamed and stupid at the same time said, "I think I'm in love with the boy again. God, I said it. And I don't want to feel this way."

  "So don't. Your feelings are you own, you know."

  "But, sometimes I feel like we're supposed to be together. That's it's meant to be. Sometimes I'm so sure of it...and I don't want to be with him. Why do I feel this way when I don't want him?"

  "Because the boy has always been a missed opportunity for you. These are old feelings you're feeling. You don't have to be afraid of them. And besides, you don't have to act of them. You're in control here."

  The girl sighed, feeling better. "You're right. I don't have to do anything I don't want to. Why don't I remember that?"

  "Because you're too busy worrying. Sheesus, even if you were single, you'd be out of your mind to mate yourself with such an unhappy twit. You'd never act that way."

  So the girl came away from the phone conversation feeling much better. Rushing was right. The girl's feelings were her own, and she could change them. She certainly didn't have to act on them. But the only way to change a feeling was to feel it all the way through. And that scared her.

  She sat with Quietly, watching his profile, and how calm he was. She wondered if he'd understand her feelings about the boy, if they'd threatened him as much as they were threatening her. She winced at the thought of telling Quietly, but the Being whispered, "You can always trust the truth."

  So, the girl told Quietly about her feelings for the boy, how she was exasperated and annoyed with him but at the same time very concerned about his happiness. In fact, she couldn't help helping him feel better.

  "Oh, Quietly, I feel so uncomfortable having all these strong feelings about him. It bothers me to feel so connected to him, like I know what he's doing or thinking. But, I don't have that same connection to you."

  Quietly thought a moment before answering. "Well, you and the boy are a lot alike. You think in the same way, you do things the same way---no wonder you feel so connected to him."

  "But, I don't want to be. I'd rather feel that way about you. Doesn't it bother you that I should feel that way about him?"

  "Sweetie, the reason we are together is because we're so unalike. I never know what you're thinking, you have a hard time figuring me out. If you were with the boy, you'd be bored within two days because you'd read each other's thoughts and have nothing to say to each other. With us, we're never bored, and our life is always exciting because we don't understand each other."

  "So, it doesn't bother you, me talking to him? the way I feel about him?"

  "Nope, doesn't bother me at all."

  So, the girl felt vastly supported after the conversation with Quietly, knowing that Quietly had faith in her, felt absolutely no jealousy, and could allow her to deal with the Boy as the Being dictated. Now she didn't have to view the Boy as a threat to her happiness---she could remain compassionate toward him.   

  And she began observing how she felt about the boy, and the feelings began to pass.

  She said to the Being one evening, "The boy is still Prince Charming, isn't he."

  "So he is," the Being replied.

  "How funny," the girl said. "The boy doesn't know this anymore, does he."

  "Hmmm. Perhaps he doesn't want to know."

  "Oh, I see. Freely was his way of running away from the pain I caused him. He loved her like an ideal, because loving for real would be too risky. At least, that's what he learned from his experience with me. So, he put all his eggs in one basket, calling it risking all for Freely's love, when really, it's no risk at all to love a fantasy. He could love her any way he wanted to. Pretty easy, too, because she was never there to correct his reality."

  "Yes. Dealing daily and truthfully with people helps us see them."

  "So, that's why I talk to him so often, so I can really see who he is."

  "Other reasons, too."

  "We both benefit," she continued, excited. "I get to straighten out how I feel about him, and about what I really believe about love, and at the same time he gets free counseling, and some comfort."

  The Being smiled at her.

  "It doesn't matter that the boy is Prince Charming, does it."

  "Not in the slightest."

  "I'm with Quietly because I want to be with him, and he wants to be with me, not because I feel like I should be, or because we're married."

  "Isn't that the only reason to be with someone?"

  "You're right. And not even Prince Charming can threaten that. If the boy and I were supposed to be together, than we would be, and it'd be a happy thing for everyone, not the worst case scenario I'm imagining."

  "Exactly."

  "Wow, it's sure nice to get this all straightened out finally." The girl stretched her legs and arms wide, feeling relief and happiness flood her. A sudden thought occurred to her. "Hey, that means there's no such thing as Prince Charming."

  "Almost. What it means is that they are all Prince Charming."

  The girl blinked, surprised, but sleepiness was over coming her. The Being whispered, "Go visit the boy."

  The girl went to visit the Boy for a few days, walking and talking over some of her most favorite parts of country. She enjoyed looking at the boy's various projects and contraptions, she saw that the boy had made a great start on his life as a builder.

  But she also saw the boy was isolated, and his vision about others was narrow, filled with perceptions and judgments that were unimportant to her way of viewing the world. And she saw the boy, while he seemed happy that she had come to visit, was actively trying to avoid talking to her by talking about everything else he could think of.

  She watched with a little sadness that the boy didn't want to deal with her as she was, and couldn't see her. She saw that the boy was still firmly stuck in his unhappy loneliness. She saw that boy did not know, or refused to know, the significance she had in his life.   

  But, she also saw that her feelings for the boy had changed---she no longer felt so deeply connected to him, and she no longer felt that there had been any past between them. That's when she knew she had put the boy completely behind her. She went home happy for herself, but sad for the boy.

  The boy had enjoyed the girl's visit, but he had known that the girl wanted to discuss Serious Matters, and he hadn't been in the mood. The girl was too intense, and on top of that, she was uncanny in her accuracy about his life. He didn't want to deal with such heavy stuff.   

  And yet, although he didn't understand what motive the girl had in comforting him all these months, he was grateful that she had. He felt stronger now, not so lonely, and he felt like he didn't need to talk to the girl for a long time and would still feel centered.

  As he dropped the girl off to travel back to her home, he had reflected that the visit had been good, and had been fun. Now he could concentrate on the deep feeling he had that Freely was about to return into his life. He had had this feeling for weeks, he knew she was thinking of him, and he had a letter to send to her about his new understanding of love that he had learned and adapted from the girl.

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