Short Story
Where Men Differ From Woman
By Marahute Sol
- Disclaimer: I do not have the rights to any of it. There, I said it. Happy now?
- Author's note: Warning, may contain nuts.
Where Garet differs from Mia
The sky had turned dark within a few seconds; it was like hitting a wall into another world. It was bucketing for three full hours now and the road ahead was very difficult to see. One could scarcely make out the middle of it and then only for a few seconds at a time. It was just enough to keep you, more or less, on your side of the road; and not off on the other side. There was wind howling and blowing so hard that Garet had a hard time keeping his Psynermobile in a straight line, even without the curtain of darkness surrounding them.
- - - - -
He had seen her standing by the front door of their first seminar on the dangers of 'The bunny'. After a fair few minutes that had seemed like hours, he had gathered enough courage to ask her out for a drink; she had accepted; they had a pretty good time.
A few nights later he had asked her out to dinner, and again they had enjoyed themselves. They continued to see each other regularly, and after a while neither one of them was seeing anybody else anymore. It was beginning to become something that could be described as serious.
Tonight, while they're traveling home, a thought occurs to Mia, and, without really thinking, she says it aloud: "Do you realize that we have been seeing each other for exactly six months this very evening?"
A silence followed so loud, that is could hardly be heard over the thundering noise the rain made.
To Mia, it seemed like a suspicious silence. She thought to herself: I wonder if it bothers him that I said that. Maybe he has been feeling confined by our relationship; maybe he thinks I am trying to push him into some kind of obligation that he does not want, or is not happy with.
Garet thinks silently to himself: Wow, six months already.
The Psynermobile wobbles a bit as it goes off the road for a few seconds. A bit that looks to have been an animal flies past as the wiels picks up some dirt, and flings it past their Psynermobile.
Mia continuous to think: But, you know, I am not even so sure I want this kind of relationship either. At times I wish I had a bit more space myself, so I would have some time to think about whether I really want us to be together, to keep going where we are heading, I mean, where are we going? Will we keep on seeing each other at this level of closeness? Is there any chance of us going toward a marriage? Are we going to have a lifelong commitment of being together? Perhaps have some children? Do I really know him good enough to try and make something of what we have right now?
Garet thinks: ...so that means it was...let me think... Late June when I first saw her, which was right after I traded this Psynermobile, which means... Let me check my mileage...Yes. I am overdue for an Orb change.
Mia then thinks: Oh no. I have upset him. I can see it on his face I know I can. No. Perhaps I'm reading this entirely wrong. Perhaps he expects more from me, from our relationship, more love and more dedication. Perhaps he has known all along what I am realizing right now. I am feeling some reservations too. That is it. That is why he is so reluctant to say anything. He does not wish to share his feelings because he is afraid he might offend me. He's afraid of being rejected. That must be it.
The outside temperature started to drop, so Mia turned on the heater, making a small red light on the instruments light up. The light beam shines on the place where the imprint of a round object had been for some time, and was, with great effort, removed recently.
Garet still thinks: I will probably have to let them check my transmission too, again. And I do not care what those wossnames will say; it is still not shifting right. And I hope for their sake they won't try to blame it on all the wet weather lately this time. What do you mean, wet? I can't see a single feet in front of me. My Psynermobile is shifting like a bloody horse pulled cart, which is not right in any weather condition.
She looked sideways and studies his face for a few moments. She then looks to her hands, folded together, on her upper legs. And she reaches a conclusion after a few moments.
He is, upset, angry. How can I blame him? I would be angry as well. I feel so guilty, putting him through all of this. I cannot help the way I feel; I need to know how he looks upon the matter. I am just not sure, why will he not say something?
Garet mused on. They will most likely say the recede is valid for no more than two weeks. Wossnames.
Mia continued. Perhaps I am expecting too much. I am not waiting for a knight to come riding on his big white horse, with black manes and a black nose, a long black tail with a pink butterfly at the end. I should not be so egotistical when I am sitting next to a perfectly okay guy, a guy I enjoy spending time with, someone I really care about and someone who seems to trust me. A man who now is engaged in a terrible conflict of consciousness because of my self-centered, schoolgirl romantic fantasy.
Garet went on as well. A warranty? They want a warranty? I will give them their warranty. I will take their warranty and shove it right up their rigid...
"Garet," Mia says.
"Yes?" Garet asks, surprised at her sudden hail after the long silence.
The rain still pounds on their roof. A lightning flash lights up the sky, but the thunder remains silent. A smell of burnt wood briefly fills the Psynermobile as Garet hits the brakes to avoid a piece of something that could have been a bunny from colliding with their front Psynermobile window.
"Please do not anguish yourself like this," she says, her eyes beginning to brim with tears. "Maybe I should never have," she says with a shaky voice "...oh dear, I feel so..." She breaks down, weeping.
"Whut?" Garet says at a loss for words.
"I am an idiot." Mia cries. "I know that there is no white horse I really do. I am a fool for thinking that. There is no knight and no horse."
"There is no horse?" No, it were the remains of a bunny I am sure of it; if it was a horse I would have known. It would have made a bigger bang.
"You think me a fool do you not?"
"No." Garet says; glad to finely have a safe answer.
"It is just… I feel that… I... I need some time,"
There is a small pause while Garet, thinking at top speed, tries to come up with a safe answer. He finally decides on one that might just do the trick.
"Yes," he says.
Mia, deeply moved, lays one of her hand on one of his and gazes deeply into his brown eyes.
"Oh, Garet, do you really feel that way?" she asks.
Another lightning flash light up the sky and the rain slows down a bit.
"What way?"
"About time,"
"Oh. Yes?" he ventures.
Mia continuous to gaze at him with her huge ocean blue eyes. Causing him to become very nervous, about what she might say next, especially if it might involves some horse or this dark night that just won't end. At last she speaks, and as she does, the sun breaks through the clouds completely. The clouds dissipate after a single loud thunderclap. And the temperature rises. A bunny, pinned on the Psynermobile logo lets go and leaves a trail on the Psynermobile that will take four hours, five buckets and two sponges to get of the front window and roof of the Psynermobile.
"Thank you" she says.
"Thank you." he says.
After he drops her of at her place, she lies down on her bed, deeply troubles and with a tortured soul, and cries until dawn, when she finely falls asleep.
As soon as Garet gets home, he pours himself a glass of whisky and sits down on his couch. Flabbergast at what went on just now. The tiny voice of reason in his head manages to tell him it did not involve a horse colliding with his Psynermobile. It tells him, in the far recesses of his mind, that something huge was going on, back in the Psynermobile, but as he is pretty sure that he is most likely to never find out what, he figures it is better if he forgets all about it.
And that is where men differ from woman.