You, the Correct Other, the One I am Looking For
I like to organize things.
I like to put smaller things inside of bigger things except other times when I like to extract smaller things from inside of bigger things.
I like to put things in the places they belong then to take them back out of those places and put them other places maybe in a row, maybe in a square, maybe first one then the other depending on their number.
I admire my handiwork.
Then, when I can't stand it any more, I put everything back where it was.
You, the correct Other, the one I am looking for, you also like to put smaller things inside of bigger things except other times when you, the person I am looking for, like to extract smaller things from inside bigger things and arrange them maybe in rows, maybe in squares, maybe first one then the other depending on their number.
Together we will admire our handiwork.
Then, when we can't stand it any more, we will put everything back where it was.
And it will be joyous.
In a home, two senses of where things must go are better than one sense of where things must go because, alone, one sense of where things must go results in those things always being in exactly the same places so everything is always exactly where it should be in exactly the same way.
You, the correct Other, the one I am looking for, you have exacting standards concerning where things must go.
I want to see the beauty of your arrangements.
Together we will admire your handiwork.
I like to cook.
I like to cook but sometimes find that my preference for things in their proper places gets the better of me and the things that I need to cook, which I have carefully arranged on the counter in either a row or a square depending on their number, sometimes those things need to be put back in their proper individual places. Sometimes the cooking that I like to do is interrupted by countervailing movements of taking things out from inside other things, arranging them according to their number and putting things back inside of other things again .
You, the correct Other, the one I am looking for, you will see this and hand me a glass of wine.
You will know the exact color of wine and how much should be in the glass.
You will hand me the perfect glass of wine and tell me everything is OK.
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Author's Note
The premise:
I like to organize things
I like to cook
was lifted from a Match.com profile.
I just connected them.
Other stories by stephen hastings-king
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"Made for each other."
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Excellent realization of the premise. *
I love this. It is at once a heartache, a story of love, a dream, a reality, and a parody. Well done.
Good piece, Stehpen. Good balance. The structure works well. Effective closing.
Thanks for the reads, comments and faves. I'm pleased that you like the piece. I was fun to make.
Aside: I put a version of this in a semi-clandestine blog i maintain largely for sentimental reasons. A very nice person I kind of know was apparently tricked by the first-person pronouns into reading this as entirely straight. She wished me well in my quest for another and offered me consoling words about the organizational compulsions that I, apparently, live with, and talked at some length about how something similar afflicts her and the ways in which it worked out in her relationships.
I do not know quite what to say to that.
What I do know is that I feel quite guilty about finding it to be as funny as I do.
Great work Stephen. After reading your comments, I believe you should be proud your work is someone's truth (so to speak).
Fave.
Oh god I love this sort of thing. Favorite!
I enjoyed reading this piece, Stephen. It articulates the placement of things in a house and a sense of it between people in a new way. *
Yes!
This is great - love the formal absurdity of this piece.
Most excellent, Stephen. Funny,yes, but also diving into some depths.
Yes, but are all the clothes hangers in his closet pointing the same way? *
This is great, Stephen! Funny, yes, and much more.
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wow. thanks very much for the reads and comments and nice star things. i appreciate them all very much---and the reads from folk who haven't posted as well. what i've figured out is that this piece is fun to read aloud. and that there's some complexity to this person who's talking this narrator who is not me. when i think of her, i think of northern new hampshire for some reason. i'm please you like hanging out with her and what she imagines that she wants as well.
i love the last line especially. puts it all in a powerful perspective, is vulnerable, honest, adorable.
OH YES, Stephen, and that you lifted it from a match.com profile...outstanding! *
This is so great, I couldn't "see" the narrator at all but FELT him square in my brain.
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Creative. :)
Really enjoyed reading this and thinking the person would find their person if they could know and laugh at themselves a bit more.
In this sentence towards the end, I would make the bracketed word swap to make it parallel since organization is so key to this work: In a home, two senses of where must things [things must]go are better than one sense of where things must go because,
oh to be so organized.
liked reading this so much fun.
thanks very much for the reads, lovely comments and stars.
i'm pleased that there's something emotionally engaging about this piece for you. i made it while focusing very much on the sentences...
@ judith: you're right about the parallelism in that paragraph. i made the swap & didn't even feel a twinge about it. thanks much.
Isn't that the perfect description of the perfect and well-organized match? ;)
Loved it. So want that calming partner with the perfect glass of wine. Beautiful