A Human Wife

1

A HUMAN WIFE BY

Maria Camacho

2 Rose strolled on the wet sand as waves came crashing at her feet, then receded; leaving a white froth that only went away with the next incoming wave. The birds flew by the rocks jutting by the sea and the froth adorning the sand along the beach, an allegory of heaven on earth. The past appeared before her eyes, sending her life down a path of conflicting emotions. She went back in time to that day, lost in her past and her mind. She had been walking on the beach on a day like any other, as the noise of the waves echoed around her and the sun shone in the sky. Rose sat down on the sand, after arriving at a small cove, while a group of children chased a ball around the beach and the world vibrated with life. Rose watched them playing, as the joys of their faces brought happiness to her soul. The children’s laughter got fainter until she saw the sun riding up the sky, while long shadows adorned the beach around her. The children must have gone, because the noise had stopped, leaving a universe full of nothingness. As she looked for her suntan lotion, she saw a young man sitting by her side. He wore a cap on his curly brown hair, while turning the pages of a magazine with rough fingers. Rose looked at him for a while, admiring his tanned skin and wishing for him to notice her amidst the other things in the beach. He looked like one of those actors from Baywatch, with his muscled body. Time went past, when she dreamt of kissing the stranger by her side and in the realm of her emotions. A small plane appeared in the horizon, its motors interrupting the stillness of the day, before it swirled like a leaf, threatening to land on the sea. Then it flew away, as the stranger looked at her with green eyes, surrounded by long lashes. “Are you on holidays here?” she asked. “I’m hoping to find a job,” he said. He lay back on the sand, while she pretended to look at her book. Time went past, the red disk of the sun disappearing under a horizon full of fire, before descending into the unknown.

3 “Isn’t it beautiful?” he asked. Rose nodded. “I have to go.” “Wait,” he said. He took some paper out of his bag and sketched the scene. A few stars had appeared in the sky and he drew them. He gestured upwards. "Do you know how many stars you can find in that fuzzy patch? "I don't," she said. "A thousand?" "A few million." Rose tried to imagine a universe full of suns and other things she couldn’t comprehend, behind the realm of time. He looked at her preparations to leave, her profile outlined against the evening. “Don’t move,” he said. She saw his fingers drawing her face, bringing to life all the characteristics inherited from her parents. He captured her hair while the wind played with it, sending it over her shoulders. She smiled as he drew more stars above her head. “I travel to another planet every weekend,” he said. She shrugged. “You must be joking.” “I never joke.” He put the paper on his lap, admiring the spectacle in front of them, as the sky burnt and the colours spread throughout the atmosphere. He bent down a little and their lips met. “You’re beautiful,” he said. Rose didn’t know what to say, as they had just met under the sun. He gestured at the sky. “The light of all those stars has taken a long time to come to us.” “That’s fantastic,” he said. “The force of gravity drives many things up there,” he said.

4 She looked at the sky, surrounded by the darkness of evening, while wondering about his words. “What do you mean?” she asked. “You expand space, bringing the universe closer to you.” “That is science fiction.” “It is.” Something extraordinary happened. A pink light made its way across Sagittarius and the Milky Way. As it danced across the heavens, two more lights joined in, zigzagging amidst the fixed stars, before disappearing below the horizon. “You see UFOs when you are with me,” he said. “I know.” “I’m full of magic,” he said. He kissed her amongst the shadows fighting with each other to take control of the beach on that night full of mystery. She was breathless by the time he finished. “Don’t you wish this moment could last forever?” he asked. A burst of music from his mobile, disturbed the magic scene. He spoke to the person on the phone in his own language, but he seemed confused and rather sad. “I have to go back home tomorrow,” he said. She shrugged. “I thought you wanted to find a job here.” “I'll come back in a few days.” He rummaged in his pockets, before kneeling in front of her holding a ring. “Will you marry me?” he asked. Rose giggled. “We have just met.” “I already love you.” He slipped the ring in her finger. Rose could not take her eyes away from the enormous diamond, shining under the moonlight.

5 “I want to celebrate our engagement,” he said. The stars had danced just for her. They arrived at the promenade and went up the road. “I’m staying here,” he said, as they approached a hotel. He ordered a bottle of champagne in the foyer and took her upstairs. Rose felt that touch of unreality, as he fiddled with his keys: She had to be sleeping on the beach and Kevin was a dream. As she entered the room, a figurine on the bed looked at her with big hollow eyes. "It’s the Celtic God of love,” he said. “I bought it in an antique shop.” “It’s weird.” “I know,” he said. They made love between the sheets, while the God of love looked at them from the wardrobe, making sure they had a nice time. Rose dreamed of cruising around the stars, while the universe stretched under the magic of gravity, but she awoke as he sat on the bed. “I want to marry you,” he said. Rose yawned. “I'm not dressed.” “I can marry us,” he said. ”You are not a priest or a registrar.” He stood in front of her, looking serious. After saying a few things, he put the ring in her finger. “I pronounce us man and wife,” he said. “We’ll get married at the registry office when I come back.” “There is something under the blankets,” she said. As she pulled it, the small figurine fell onto the floor and broke into tiny pieces. She didn’t know how it had got to that place, after he had left it in the wardrobe. “I’m sorry,” she said. Kevin shrugged. “It’s all right.” He brushed the pieces away and threw them in the bin.

6 “You have awoken dormant feelings in him,” he said. She panicked. “What do you mean?” “I don’t know.” They made love again amidst the soft pillows, when she felt her soul dissolving in many images until the pleasure of an orgasm. They rested in each other’s arms for some time, the silence eating her soul. “I have to pack my clothes now,” he interrupted her thoughts. She watched as he put his trousers and shirts in a bag. “Will you forget me?” she asked. He shook his head. “I love you.” Rose looked at the room for a last time before they left. She wanted to remember every detail of this wonderful dream. “I want to go with you,” she said. “I’ll be back soon.” She followed him out of the room and along the corridor. The receptionist filed her nails as they went past the foyer and he left his keys on a tray. “Thank you,” he said. The girl mumbled something while looking at her nails. As they moved along the beach, a clown entertained the crowd, whilst a few people crowded by his side. At first she thought they might go to the train station or perhaps to catch a bus. “Don’t forget me,” he said. They stopped by the cove as something came closer to them. “I’m Kevin,” he said.

7 She had not asked him his name since they had met by the beach an eternity ago. Everything went in slow motion, as lightning sent her to the floor and he escaped from her arms mumbling a few more things. “No,” she said. Kevin waved at her from a craft, hovering above the beach, while the universe went dark and her dreams caught up with her. She saw a UFO helping him to go to the crucible of life by distorting space- time forever, as her universe dissolved in many dreams. A small boy leaned over her later. “Are you all right?” he asked. Rose nodded. “Did you see a man by my side?” “I only saw you sleeping on the sand,” the child replied. Rose felt hot and her head hurt. Kevin couldn’t have gone up in the air with all of these people around them. “Kevin,” she called out. The child looked at her while holding an ice cream. “What day is it?” she asked. The child shrugged and licked the ice cream. Rose looked for Kevin amidst the crowd. She sat by the sea until darkness fell over the land, when she decided to go to the hotel. She must have met him amidst her dreams, after falling asleep on the beach. The receptionist filed her nails in the foyer. It had to be the same girl they had seen that morning. “Can I help you?” the girl asked as she entered the hotel. “I wonder if you have seen my husband,” Rose said. “What is his name?” “Kevin,” Rose replied. “He checked out this morning as you filed your nails”

8 The woman turned the pages a few times. “I cannot find his name in my register.” “We married this morning,” Rose said. The girl grinned. “You have already lost him.” After leaving the hotel, Rose walked up to the spot where Kevin had disappeared. As she lay down on the sand hugging her stomach, a small plane flew across the sky, disturbing the world. “Kevin,” she shouted. A group of children playing on the shore looked at her. “She must be mad,” one of them said and his friends laughed. Rose waited for something although she didn’t know what. The children finished playing and even the seagulls had gone away, but she had to see Kevin. Early in the morning she made her way home. She went back to the beach during the next few days, hoping against all odds to find Kevin. On that night, she seemed to be the only person in the beach except for a man who combed the sand with his metal detector. As he came closer to Rose, he asked. “Isn't it a bit late to be alone here?” She nodded. “My husband disappeared at this spot some days ago.” “Was he taken away by a craft?” he asked. “I don't really know what happened,” Rose said. “He just disappeared.” The man took a plastic bag out of his sack. “I collect his presents.” He showed Rose a few wedding rings and idols. “I know of other women wandering the beach, while asking for the same man.” As she looked around, Rose saw a blonde girl who sat a few meters away and she could just make out the figures of some other women. “He wants to find a perfect human wife,” the man said. Rose knelt down and wept.

9 The end.