Love On Display

A young man makes a public declaration of love for his girl

You know how it is--when you’re walking the streets at a slow-paced stroll you probably have nothing to do. Or nowhere to go. Or you’re really old. Otherwise, you walk at a normal pace. Or perhaps even a fast one if you have an appointment or you’re someone important. Or you think you’re someone important.

But that is how she and I were walking--a relaxed stroll through the busy metro area. Her hand in mine and mine in hers. Looking through the windows of all the shops. Looking at the faces of the other walkers headed towards us. As each person approached us I looked into their faces"some world weary, others youthful and full of anticipation"and in my mind I asked each one, “Hey, do you have any idea how good I feel?” Who actually does that though, right? I mean who would actually put out such a verbal question? But it had to be said and I figured I would say it to everyone at once.

As she and I continued our carefree steps I tugged on her arm and said ‘let’s stop here for a minute.’ We had arrived at a large space where one of the city’s modern pieces of art had been permanently installed for public gawking. Without going too far in we moved just off the sidewalk area where the majority of the foot traffic was. She looked a bit unsure as to what was going on. “Why did we stop here?” she asked.  I faced her and looked deep into her eyes and also glanced back to the passersby on the sidewalk. This time they mostly looked sad, preoccupied or completely void of expression. Clearly they were at some point in their lives where the burdens of existence became greater than the pure and simple love of life. I turned my attention back to her as she was still looking up at me. My stomach was fluttering with butterflies. I had never done what I was about to do. I put my hands around her face and kissed her gently yet steadily and long enough that she would forget we were in the public square and become oblivious to all the pedestrians walking by, staring at us.

That and the world around us had faded completely. Time"what was time? There was no hot sun beating down on us. There was no cool breeze tousling our hair. There were no sounds of people gabbing, phones ringing, engines revving or cabs honking. The world stilled by this kiss. The natural reservation over conducting such a public display of affection and love for both of us had vaporized, being replaced by nonchalance as though what we were doing was a matter of survival and nothing else mattered. It had become as necessary as breathing, though even on that not a thought was spared!

By the time our simple act of passion was over, her arms were firmly around my shoulders and I didn’t even remember feeling when she moved them there. Even my hands had shifted from her face to one on her back and the other on the back of her head without recollection. And as we started to become aware again of ourselves and our surroundings, the sounds of people clapping, whistling and occasional random words and phrases such as ‘cute’, ‘sweet’ & ‘in love’ were being tossed about. As we still stared deeply into each other’s eyes and all those sounds grew louder we looked around us and grinned at each other slightly embarrassed at all the attention we had generated. But everyone who was passing by at the time was also smiling and it was as if our moment of romance brought some morsel of joy to all the perfect strangers on the street.

As we released each other to rejoin everyone else back on the sidewalk tour, we quickly re-gathered ourselves, this time arm-in-arm, and resumed our slow paced stroll. An announcement had been made to the world and in turn the world stopped and listened and was pleased with what was said. I may have been walking on cold hard concrete that afternoon, but for all I know I could have been soaring into the clouds.