Love Story, a Sequel
by Jack Swenson
He hid in parks and abandoned apartment houses until his wounds healed. He ate nuts, berries, and seeds. A shy, gentle soul, he watched children playing on the monkey bars, and thought of his lost youth.
For a time he kept to the trees, avoiding the bright lights, tall buildings, and movie houses. But he needed a job. He tried a circus, but they weren't hiring. He got a job as a bouncer in a bar downtown, but he didn't enjoy the work. Then he became a bond trader, and he discovered that he had found his calling.
He had a good head for business, and he knew how to keep his mouth shut. Secrecy was the key to the bond business, he discovered. Clients took his silence and his stern, fixed stare with lips pressed tightly together to mean that he was someone they could put their trust in.
And then one Saturday he was sitting on a bench in a small downtown park eating a snack of seeds from a paper sack when a young woman in a nightgown jogged past him. He recognized the girl; she was an acquaintance from the old days. He jumped to his feet, ran after her, caught up, and they jogged together for a time.
Finally, the young woman wobbled off the path and sat down. "Whew!" she said. "I'm out of shape." He stood there open-mouthed looking at her. She smiled. "It's good seeing you again," she said. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Mmm," she said. "Always did love that cologne. What's it called again? Love Potion #9?"
He sat down next to her, and they talked for hours. Or rather, she talked, and he listened. When they left the park, they were hand in hand. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," she said.
They went to her apartment and spent the rest of the weekend in bed, and when they were not otherwise occupied, she hand fed him his favorite delicacies from a bowl of shoots, leaves, caterpillars, grubs, and snails.
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Author's Note
This story was inspired by an old movie. It was published in Pindeldyboz.
An impressive opening, Jack. Good presentation of character throughout. The minimal use of dialogue is a strength for this work – which is all about mood and tone. I like the voice here. Also, the tension between friendship and romance here – like Casablanca. Great image to close the work. Another solid piece.
I love the detail of her jogging in a nightgown. It's the sort of thing that happens in Dan Rhodes stories.
Wonderful ending in the final paragraph. (...But then, I would think that. I'm a ghoul.)
Such an interesting story, and, for me, it seems to cover a whole lot of different time periods, and film eras, as well.
To go from a shy gentle soul to a bond trader, whew...
I loved the scene in the park, her jogging by in her nightgown, the naturalness of that image and what transpires afterwards, and what is left out, the why about her jogging in her nightgown.
Love the distance covered and how you bring things full circle. He's become a bond trader etc but in the last par we find he still gets wildman munchies. I like her jogging in the nightgown, and I like wondering why.
So whimsical and fantastical: she jogs in a nightgown, he eats little berry bits, they eat delicacies of grubs and snails. I like the way he softens again
Liked this very much, Mr. Jack!
Surreal. I love surreal.
I liked the way his identity, origins, species even(?) are left to the reader to supply. Beautifully balanced piece.
I love beginning and ending with a mystery. This is a new and different J. Swenson to me!
Well done, Jack. I love both of these characters and the story you create with them. Your smooth, measured pacing makes it even more of a treat!
Thank you all for reading my little King Kong spoof. The editor at Pindeldyboz who accepted it did so she said because she just loved pandas! Panda's? I sent her panda jokes after that (after the story was in print!) until she stopped answering my emails.
Ah, Jack I love that you made him a a bond trader, so, so funny. Really good one!
Nice one. Yea, I like switch from bouncer to bond trader. Funny.
from trying the circus then a bond trader! wow
loved the romance in this story.
Claire, Matthew, Estelle: Thank you so much. This one was so much fun to write!
Ha! Great story, Jack. Fave*!
The narrator's voice reminds me of Sherwood Anderson; what happens in the story borders on magical realism. I think "jogging" was invented simultaneously by people all over the country who had the sudden urge to run down the street. I met a woman who told us she did that before jogging was a recognized sport or activity. T.C. Boyle brings eccentrics into his tales as well. This story is in good company, in other words. Delightfully quirky, yes, but with the goal of illuminating a wider story.
*
Not easy to pull off something like this and get away with it. If the writing gig doesn't pan out, that bond trading business is always a good fall-back. Not many people know that.
Well done.
Marcelle, Ann, & James...Thank you, my friends. Now I feel guilty for teasing the editor at Pindeldyboz!
Eerie, strange, yet you balance this with flecks of realism. This is an interesting tale.
* from me.