Another brilliant piece from a GUNNAS WRITING MASTERCLASS writer.
Once upon a time there was a couple – a man and woman; they were lovers, but in the first stage, the honeymoon stage. They’d do everything together. He wasn’t one for spontaneity, but she was daring and rash.
‘Come with me, darling!’ she said. ‘On the flying fox. It’ll be fun.’
He was worried at first, but then laughed, and said, ‘Are you sure even you want to? You’re wearing a dress!’
She looked down. ‘Oh.’ She faltered.
‘Let’s neither one of us do it,’ he said with relief, and went to take her hand.
She giggled. ‘No, let’s both do it! Who’s going to cave first, I wonder? With your fear of heights and my dress.’
He narrowed his eyes and drew his shoulders up to full height, inhaling fully.
‘Alright! Let’s.’
Every day, they tried something new. She wore his trousers, he approached strangers, she sang every word for one whole day, he comforted a drunkard throwing up in a bar’s restroom.
On this day, he left the bathroom and went back out into the bar. He sat at the booth with his wife. (They were married just months after their flying fox adventure.)
‘This sure is tiring,’ he said and wiped his damp face with a cloth napkin.
‘What is, dear?’ she asked, looking up from the newspaper in her hands.
‘Trying something new every day,’ he said and sat back in the booth.
She smiled in an overly understanding way.
One day, he decided to stop. He decided to break their tradition.
‘No,’ he told her. ‘I’m not doing anything new today. I’m going to relax and be comfortable knowing exactly what’s coming, and what I’m doing, and what I will do until I finish my day inevitably by falling asleep in my own bed. Not under the stars, not naked, not in a car by the beach. In my pyjamas and beside you.’
She denied his assertions, thinking he was joking. He fought back, and her temper flared.
‘How dare you deliberately stop something so sacred, which had proven time and time again to be exhilarating, life-changing even, because you’re tired?’
She became crestfallen that she could not convince him, and subsequently left the house to look for some new adventure to dive into. So she took a walk. Their argument resounded in her mind – key phrases popped up in different orders, enraging her further.
Because of that, she refused to return home. She called a taxi service and requested he drive her to the airport. She booked the next available flight out of the city and boarded within the hour. She considered calling her husband, but only for a moment, because all she could think of was his inevitable reply: ‘Oh have fun. I’ll be here when you get back.’
But what if she didn’t return that day? Or the next? What would happen if she decided to leave him, so that their entire relationship was based solely around the tradition they had kept, from the day of their first date to many years into their marriage?
And because of that, the man was left alone. His wife did not return for a week. When she did, he did not ask where she went, or why she didn’t call. Instead, he sat her down and said, ‘I want a divorce.’
She was livid. ‘How could you? You were the one who made me leave, the one who threw our traditions away, disregarded what our relationship was made of, and who pushed me over the edge! Our relationship shattered the moment you refused me.’
‘Then it was something new for us, wasn’t it!’
‘That’s not the point!’
They argued for hours,
Until finally, they were crying.
‘Why don’t you value what we created!?’
‘Why don’t you value me!?’
‘What do you mean, value you?’ she asked.
‘I never wanted to do something different everyday,’ he said, hatred injected into every syllable. ‘But I went along with it all because I loved you, and I wanted to be with you, no matter what you did. Last week I realised that you didn’t care about me or what I wanted, you just wanted company when you did whatever you wanted.’
The woman stood frozen with mouth wide open – he had never so much as raised his voice to her before.
How could she be so clueless about what he truly wanted?
‘I’m so sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I thought you wanted to – but I thought you were saying no because you were afraid of whatever it was we were about to do. Do you remember the flying fox? That was the first time we did something new, that neither of us wanted to do. You were afraid of heights, but I helped you get over your fear by trying it with you. Do you think I wanted to show my underwear as I flew over the crowd?’
He scoffed, despite himself. Then sighed.
‘I’m sorry too,’ he said. ‘I should’ve been more open with you… and less relenting when you pushed me too often.’ He had a cheeky smile.
She did too. ‘And I’ll learn to take no for an answer.’