2 days ago, I read a short story based on a passionate, frenzied love & somehow I just can’t stop thinking about it. I’m actually disturbed & maybe that’s why I need to scribble something on it. As such I don’t like reading about love stories but at the same time, it’s almost impossible to stay away from them, because somehow they always creep in.
As usual it has made me question a couple of things. We feel so badly about a character but in real life, we don’t mind hurting & insulting people. It’s okay to be callous & have a bit of fun. True feelings are meant to be insulted sooner or later & love can surely take you to hell.
This is a story about Fred Manson & Gracie. Ned Preston is another important character. He happens to be a Prison visitor & that’s how he learns about the love affair of Fred & Gracie. Fred was serving 18 months sentence in jail for stealing but whatever he did, he did in the name of love. Gracie was much above him in everyway & he wanted her to have the best of everything.
Basically Fred is the type of character who only wanted a bit of fun & it was impossible for him to remain faithful to anyone, but he falls in love with Gracie. And beyond any reasonable doubt, it was genuine love.
‘I’m gone, I can’t help myself, I’m so stuck on you I can’t see straight. I didn’t know what it was to love like I love you.’
At another point, while talking about Gracie, he says this to Ned: ‘I could have had her over & over again if I’d wanted to. And I did want to & so did she. I knew that. But I respected her, see? She’s not like other girls. She’s one in a thousand, I tell you.’
Anyhow when he went to jail for stealing, things altered. Parents of Gracie didn’t want her to marry him anymore but she left the house & started working night & day. Meanwhile Fred thought that Gracie would leave him.
On the other hand, when Ned meets Gracie & tells him about why Fred was into stealing stuff, she said, ‘Tell him that nothing matters to me as long as he loves me. Tell him I’d wait for twenty years for him if I had to. Tell him I’m counting the days till he gets out so we can get married.’
18 months is not a very long time but things do change when you keep on thinking about the same person night & day. Naturally Fred became sick to death of Gracie. He didn’t want to see her face as he hated the sight of her. Even though Ned tried to convince him but Fred didn’t change his mind & so Ned had to go & tell Gracie.
I like how Ned expresses himself; there’s a lot of truth in it that one may not like but this is what happens even in real life. You don’t mind throwing a person as if he/she is a useless squeezed lemon:
‘Imagination’s an odd thing, it dries up; I suppose thinking of her incessantly all that time he’d exhausted every emotion she could give him, & I think it was quite literally true, he’d just got sick to death of her. He’s squeezed the lemon dry & there was nothing to do but throw away the rind.’
Anyhow Gracie took this awful news in a very calm manner. It was like as if she had missed a bus & it was a nuisance to wait for another one but she didn’t create any scene. This is what she said: ‘There’s nothing for me to do now but put my head in the gas oven.’ And the sad part is that she did.
This is indeed heart wrenching. I was wondering if this is what happens when feelings are so genuine, we can’t expect much when it comes to lousy crushes & attractions. And the more I think about this story, the conclusion seems totally apt & I hate it. Gracie was left with no other option & Fred must have been truly sick & tired of her. We can’t blame any character for the choices they made. I don’t know about the others but I think I would have done the same thing.
I guess it’s very easy to say: Don’t cry…just say ‘Fuck you’ & smile!!! For a long time, I thought life was the most inexpensive thing on this planet but now I believe feelings are even more cheap. No one wants to buy them. In fact people not just get rid of them in a variety of ways but they also jeer at them along with low-life fuckers & stuck-up cunts. It’s ironic there is no market for true feelings but most of the relationships are weighed in a balance, cause that’s the only business that works out in this world.
As usual it has made me question a couple of things. We feel so badly about a character but in real life, we don’t mind hurting & insulting people. It’s okay to be callous & have a bit of fun. True feelings are meant to be insulted sooner or later & love can surely take you to hell.
This is a story about Fred Manson & Gracie. Ned Preston is another important character. He happens to be a Prison visitor & that’s how he learns about the love affair of Fred & Gracie. Fred was serving 18 months sentence in jail for stealing but whatever he did, he did in the name of love. Gracie was much above him in everyway & he wanted her to have the best of everything.
Basically Fred is the type of character who only wanted a bit of fun & it was impossible for him to remain faithful to anyone, but he falls in love with Gracie. And beyond any reasonable doubt, it was genuine love.
‘I’m gone, I can’t help myself, I’m so stuck on you I can’t see straight. I didn’t know what it was to love like I love you.’
At another point, while talking about Gracie, he says this to Ned: ‘I could have had her over & over again if I’d wanted to. And I did want to & so did she. I knew that. But I respected her, see? She’s not like other girls. She’s one in a thousand, I tell you.’
Anyhow when he went to jail for stealing, things altered. Parents of Gracie didn’t want her to marry him anymore but she left the house & started working night & day. Meanwhile Fred thought that Gracie would leave him.
On the other hand, when Ned meets Gracie & tells him about why Fred was into stealing stuff, she said, ‘Tell him that nothing matters to me as long as he loves me. Tell him I’d wait for twenty years for him if I had to. Tell him I’m counting the days till he gets out so we can get married.’
18 months is not a very long time but things do change when you keep on thinking about the same person night & day. Naturally Fred became sick to death of Gracie. He didn’t want to see her face as he hated the sight of her. Even though Ned tried to convince him but Fred didn’t change his mind & so Ned had to go & tell Gracie.
I like how Ned expresses himself; there’s a lot of truth in it that one may not like but this is what happens even in real life. You don’t mind throwing a person as if he/she is a useless squeezed lemon:
‘Imagination’s an odd thing, it dries up; I suppose thinking of her incessantly all that time he’d exhausted every emotion she could give him, & I think it was quite literally true, he’d just got sick to death of her. He’s squeezed the lemon dry & there was nothing to do but throw away the rind.’
Anyhow Gracie took this awful news in a very calm manner. It was like as if she had missed a bus & it was a nuisance to wait for another one but she didn’t create any scene. This is what she said: ‘There’s nothing for me to do now but put my head in the gas oven.’ And the sad part is that she did.
This is indeed heart wrenching. I was wondering if this is what happens when feelings are so genuine, we can’t expect much when it comes to lousy crushes & attractions. And the more I think about this story, the conclusion seems totally apt & I hate it. Gracie was left with no other option & Fred must have been truly sick & tired of her. We can’t blame any character for the choices they made. I don’t know about the others but I think I would have done the same thing.
I guess it’s very easy to say: Don’t cry…just say ‘Fuck you’ & smile!!! For a long time, I thought life was the most inexpensive thing on this planet but now I believe feelings are even more cheap. No one wants to buy them. In fact people not just get rid of them in a variety of ways but they also jeer at them along with low-life fuckers & stuck-up cunts. It’s ironic there is no market for true feelings but most of the relationships are weighed in a balance, cause that’s the only business that works out in this world.
