Sunday, April 29, 2012

Me Plus Me (Short Prose Poem of Essay-ness)


Me Plus Me

“How do you live with yourself?” she said with a disgusted look on her face as she turned on her heel and stalked away, indignant at my observation.

“Well,” I said to no one in particular as I balefully watched her go, “it has been a long and interesting story.  I first met me about 41 years ago in a hospital in Covina, California.  I think my mother was there when we met, but I don’t think my Dad was around.  I was quite taken with me at an early age, but I didn’t always return the interest.  Sometimes I even felt snubbed by me, so I would get discouraged.  We were merely acquaintances for a long time, maybe thirty years.  We saw each other often, but didn’t really communicate with one another at all.  Don’t get me wrong - we weren’t enemies, but we weren’t the best of friends, either.  And then one day it happened. I saw myself across the room and I looked back.  Our eyes met.  It was then that I decided to pursue me.  I tentatively asked me out on a date to the movies, and to my surprise, I accepted.  I think we saw “A Beautiful Mind.”  Afterwards, we drove to the top of a tall hill that overlooks our town and just talked for hours and hours.  From then on, we sought every opportunity to be together, becoming almost inseparable.  Sometimes I would surprise me with pies, or take me on long hikes in the mountains.  Other times I would just hold my hand and stare at me for hours.  In time we fell and love and it simply made sense to ask me to move in with me. So I did.  Since then, life has had its struggles; the money problems, the doctor bills…but all in all, I’m just happy to be living with me by my side, going through life, almost as one.”

When I finished my story, my antagonist was long gone.  So I turned and looked at me with love and slowly made my way through the noisy crowd.

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