love is a strange thing

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.



It was a sunny Sunday. The birds chirping and hustling in the tree outside my window woke me up. I jumped out of my bed, took a shower, got myself neatly shaved, and put on a clean white shirt. I looked into the mirror at myself. A bit old, but with a recent haircut and a decent shave, I looked all right. I needed to look my best, because I was going to have a date.

I met this woman on line about a month ago. I saw some of her pictures. She looked nice, slender, and wearing a pair of black-framed glasses. The one I liked most was one where she, in a black winter coat, stood in front of a church, against the background of snow-covered streets and trees. In my mind she became this girl that was nice, tall, cute and a bit serious.

I told her that I was a middle-aged divorced man, but I was eager to form a family and have a kid. Looking at my colleagues fretting about their kids’ growth and schooling made me so jealous. She, on the other hand, was very cool with my ravings about kid. She was divorced, and her kid was living with her ex.

“Having a kid is a big commitment. It could change your life. We need to be very cautious about that.” She said.

Which was quite right. I did not argue. Probably I was living in a fear that the chance of me ever having a kid was getting slimmer by the day.

I drove to her place on this beautiful Sunday. It was supposed to be one hour’s drive, but it took me two hours. There was very heavy traffic in New York City even in the weekend. When I sat anxiously in the car in the traffic jam, I got a call from her. I told her that I was on my way, and would be there soon.

She was living in a high-rise building. I parked my car by the curb, and gave her a call. She came downstairs in a few minutes. I waved at her from inside my car when she walked by. She was wearing a white sweater and a blue jean, and looked very likable.

I jumped out of the car and said hello. There was some awkwardness and some uneasiness between us. It was all right – I thought. Many people warm up slowly to the person they first met. I did not feel that she was all that I pictured in my mind. It could be the same on her part. Maybe she saw the real person and was disappointed?

“Should we have lunch together?” I asked.

She hesitated. I could see that she hesitated.

“Let’s go to some restaurant and have lunch. I did not have breakfast and I am hungry now.” I said.

She got into the car.

“Where do you want to go? Some Chinese restaurant, or American one?” I turned on my GPS and started searching.

She did not have an opinion about that. It seemed that either a Chinese restaurant or an American one would do, or neither would.

“Let’s go to a Chinese restaurant.” I chose a Chinese restaurant on the GPS. And it was a bad choice. We got there only to find out that it was a take-out restaurant.

“Let’s find another one.” I started searching using my GPS. She was not saying much, and the atmosphere in the car was so uncomfortable.

“This is a busy street. You can definitely find somewhere to eat when you drive along the street.” She finally said.

“Ok.” I said, and turned off the GPS. Sure enough, we saw a KFC in a plaza a few minutes later. When I parked the car I noticed that there was a cinema in the plaza.

“We can see a movie after lunch.” I said. I had a sense that this date was not going well and was not going to end well since she was kind of cold and aloof, but I wanted things to go as agreeable as possible. I was always a congenial man.

She did not say anything. She might have smiled a little bit but the smile was fleeting and I was not sure about it.

It was a very warm day and the inside of KFC was inundated with sunshine and it was a bit suffocating. There were not many clients, and there were a few flies. We stood in line to get the lunch. There were three black girls in front of us, talking, laughing and shaking their hips. One of them was typing some message on a cell phone.

She took out her wallet.

“This lunch is on me.” I said, “It is just a few bucks.”

“Let’s go Dutch.” She said.

I looked at her eyes behind her black-framed glasses. What she had in mind was hard to tell.

“If that’s what you want.” I said.

We sat by the window and had our lunch. We both ordered chicken and salads. The sunshine was right on our table and seats and it made me uncomfortably warm. I looked out of the window and saw there were many people in the Plaza.

“Why didn’t you marry Sherry?” She said.

She mentioned some girl in the stories I wrote in my blog.

“It was just a story. Don’t read it as fact.” I said. I thought about Sherry’s beautiful eyes. I was not going to talk about Sherry with anyone. At least not with someone I met half an hour ago.

We talked a little bit about the nice weather, and about our works. Between us there was no chemistry. It was more like the working lunch of two colleagues.

Finally we finished the chickens and walked out. We walked to my car.

“Shall we watch a movie?” I asked.

She hesitated and did not say anything.

“You did not seem to want to watch a movie.” I said.

“I want to go home.” She said.

“OK.” I said.

So I drove her home. On the way back she talked about me moving to her town so we could be great friends. I responded with some friendly laughter. She was trying to be nice after turning down my proposal of watching a movie. It was a bit rough, but I did not think I was sulking. We said goodbye politely to each other when she got out of the car.

I met her online that evening.

“So I am not your type.” I said.

“I am sorry.” She said.

“It is ok.”

“Love is a strange thing.” She said.

“I understand.” I said, “I do like you. You do not like me at all?”

“Love is a strange thing.” She said.

We talked online a few days later.

“It is taking so long to get a green card.” She said, “I have an idea. Why don’t we have a marriage so I can get my green card sooner?”

“You mean a real marriage?” I said.

“No. I will pay you money. Once I get my green card we end the deal. I don’t want you to feel bad, dear. But think about it.” She said.

“Ok. I will think about it.” I said.

A few days later she mentioned her idea again.

“I don’t need your money.” I said, “I make 80,000 dollars a year. It is enough for me.”

I blocked her email address from my messenger. This woman, in a blatantly blithe manner, was asking me to cheat the US immigration authority, which was a crime and could land me in jail. Why did this woman think I would do that for her? Because her majesty had lunch with me?

She called my cell phone several times. When I saw it was her number I did not take the call. She left me messages, saying that she was interested in meeting me again.

On a Saturday night I saw her online and unblocked her address.

“Thanks for calling me. I got your messages.” I said.

“Do not want to meet me again?” she asked.

“I don’t know what we meet for.”

“I feel lonely sometimes and need company. That’s all.” She said.

“Everybody is like that occasionally. It will pass.”

“I often dreamed about true love.” She said.

“Me too.”

“Lately I thought about what you said about family when we first met online.” She said, “I was too idealistic about love.”

“OK.” I said.

What she was going to say next I thought I knew. An overwhelming revulsion seized me.

“I am going to watch TV. Talk to you later.” I said.