I Know You! ( Archived) (4)

Picture yourself on a lazy day, with nothing much to do besides window-shop and kill time. You do something you don't normally do- you meander from shop to shop, taking your time, stopping to look at flowers, even though you don't plan to buy any. But it's the kind of day when it's nice to wander through a flower shop, admiring the hanging baskets and wind-chimes and kitchy lawn-ornaments, when suddenly you become aware of a presence! Someone nearby with their back to you, unaware that you're even there. And then that person turns around, and your eyes lock, and it's as if you've known them all your life, even though you've never seen them before. In the same instant you feel a visceral attraction, as though this is the person you belong with!

Everything about that person seems comfortable and familiar- the way they stand, the way they're dressed, the way they act and move. The person strangely fits no preconception you've ever had about someone you'd wanted to meet. Despite the feeling of familiarity, you're in entirely unfamiliar waters.

And then you notice the wedding-ring, and the small child, unnoticed before, clutching their skirt or pant-leg, and you realise that it can never be, yet you wonder if that person felt the way you did, if only for an instant.

Anything like this ever happen to you?

Nope, can't say as it has, to me. Yet you paint a delightfully evocative picture of the scenario. Were you to develop this premise into some work of fiction, I'd say you had a winner of a story on your hands. What would the protagonist do? What would the outcome be? Could it be happy -- the ring is pending divorce finalization, the child a niece or nephew? Or could it be a story of doomed and star-crossed lovers, meant for one another, yet met too late, too late? Only you know, storyteller. But I'm intrigued and want to hear the rest.