Death Will Not Do Us Part

19-year-old Joseph had many passions in life. The university freshman made the best of living on the shores of the Mediterranean by fishing during the winters and diving during the summers, and doing both in between those seasons. His high school best friends, all three of them, were accepted to universities in the same city – that guaranteed remaining inseparable. They all went clubbing together and pretty much spent all their time at the same places. He, however, was the shy one when it came to girls although he did not look it and neither did his exaggerated extrovert lifestyle.

Joe’s three friends found themselves in steady relationships almost instantly after enrolling in university.

He did not.

There was something about the excessive joking he did that made girls want to be around him but not with him. That, in itself, also did not help much in encouraging any of them to consider dating him; there were just too many girls around him and none of them felt like it would be a good idea to indulge in a competition for his attention with the others.

The four friends decided to spend a weekend partying and getting drunk in the south of the country where the parents of one of them owned a summer villa; they wanted to celebrate the end of their first year in university. With Joe being single and the rest willfully forgetting what it meant to be in a relationship, a friend of theirs who lived in that southern town brought his girlfriend and four of her friends to a barbeque at the villa that night. Expectations were high for the four guys – they were set on grilling an obscene amount of meat, drinking irresponsibly, and flirting abundantly.

The plan couldn’t have deviated more from expectations; at least for Joe.  When the guests arrived, he saw something that, for the first time in his life, made him nervous, even anxious to some degree. One of the girls had the kind of beauty that could only be matched, as he thought to himself, by the sight of the seafloor at his favorite underwater spot near the shore where he would sometimes exhaust his diving tank by just remaining stationary, marveling at the majestic serenity of a piece of another world, away from the noise pollution of humans.

That was the sensation that overtook him when his eyes spotted the girl for the first time. The sight of her getting out of the car and walking into the house made him realize that the time she was going to be there represented limited breathing air just like what his scuba tank offered him. Soon, when it is time for her to go back home, he would be destined to ascend to the horrible hustle and bustle of the surface.

The anxiety caused by the certainty of her leaving at some point made him volunteer to man the grill in the garden in hope that he would not see her more than he absolutely should. That was his first-ever experience with a dominant human existence, her existence, and it scared him.

While turning the meat skewers over the charcoal, the 19-year-old contemplated philosophies he generally did not – namely reincarnation. His mind had dived involuntarily in a mental path that could explain why he felt so drawn to a girl that he didn’t know. He could not understand experiencing such fear of losing her; as though he was losing her again.

It was becoming noisy inside – there was loud music and accompanying sounds that indicated dancing. The guys, on different occasions, stepped out and offered Joe to take his place at the grill, even insisting for him to go and join the party. He could not – at that point his anxiety was coupled by the fear that she could end up being not single, and that, for an entirely irrational reason, was going to break his heart.

He just told his friends, every time, that he had a headache and could not possibly enjoy the loud atmosphere inside. His fourth beer had a soothing effect; it relaxed his mind to a certain extent. Now, what he felt was fascination rather than awkward attachment that neared love. He was able to imagine what the day would be like tomorrow when they all went hunting in the valley. Little by little, the girl’s effect eased up on his heart and mind.

“Are you planning to stay out here forever?” a soft, almost musical, voice came from the direction of the kitchen door that led to the part of the garden where the grill was.

Joe’s eyes abandoned the mesmerizing sight of flickering coal to look past the thick smoke coming from the sizzling meat. However, before they could make out the features of the person talking to him, his soul did. It was the girl he had been escaping throughout the evening. The effect of her existence did its trick again as Joseph was unable to come up with anything to counter her comment with. As much as he wanted to retaliate with something funny, he couldn’t. Actually, not a single word could be pushed through his lips. The only possible reaction was a smiling face that directed itself again towards the burning red light making its way through the blackness of the charcoal.

This time the girl didn’t speak again. She just pushed him halfway off the stool he was sitting on with her side as she claimed her share of it, opening the hand closer to him to reveal two pills.

Joe finally spoke, asking, “What are they?”

“Your friends said you were suffering from a horrible migraine or something like that. I always have these in my purse – they’re for headaches.”

There was no going inside for Joe that night; not even after the heat emitted from the charcoal cooled down. He and Farah chatted the night away. It was almost as though they really did know each other before, during a past lifetime – during several past lifetimes. They strolled under the dark sky in the garden, telling each other stories about their lives. Only, it felt like they were updating each other on what had been happening during the long separation that their souls were forced to endure by fate.

Joe was not inseparable from his buddies anymore; he had discovered a new flavor to a fulfilling life with a girl who knew how to have rugged fun, and, at the same time, offered the kind of romance that his heart had always longed for. Farah, who was mindful regarding her boyfriend not severing his relationship with the friends that loved him, always insisted that he did not bail out on their outings on account of her. The classic scenario of a guy being drawn away from his best friends by a girl’s love did not happen. If anything, they loved spending time in her company.

Three Valentines later and two university degrees, one in the hand of each of the lovers, seemed to bring about the right time to announce an engagement. As is the custom in societies that dwell on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, such an event is seen as a family affair and is taken very seriously along with all the customs that come with it.

Joseph, who was already well-loved by Farah’s parents, rode to her southern village in a motorcade of nine cars that included elders from his family, neighborhood dignitaries, and, of course, his three buddies who, by then, seemed to cherish her more than they did him. The almost 23-year-old suitor had to endure the embarrassment of being ceremoniously introduced by the dignitaries to Farah’s parents, uncles, aunts, and their counterparts of her town.  Then the elders of his family who had to vouch for him possessing a character respectful of women and norms. The formalities ended with his parents asking for the girl’s hand in marriage, and only then was he allowed to speak. As almost 70 people looked at him in anticipation, expecting the young man to utter something romantic, Joe just looked around and said, “I am hungry.”

A few seconds of loud laughter from the crowd turned into an exchange of congratulations when Farah’s mother yelled to her daughter, “Take your fiancé to the kitchen and teach him how to make a snack for himself.” That was her way to inform the attendants that the engagement was formal now.

It took three more years for the couple to save enough money to start a home and get married. Farah did not take Joe’s breath away when she wore her white dress at their wedding party – she had taken it away that very moment when she stepped out of the car the day he saw her for the first time. She had taken it away along with his mind, heart, consciousness, and admiration of his friends.

Shortly after, they had their first child, a daughter with whom their love for each other seemed to grow even more. Joseph worshipped the little girl for being a natural creation that was a result of his union with Farah. He looked at his daughter and saw his soul mate’s life energy radiating out of her eyes. It was always as though he stared at magic.

There wasn’t a single day when the couple felt even remotely upset as soon as they were together at home. Even when tragedies struck in their families or when they faced challenges, being close to each other turned their lives heavenly.

A few days after their daughter’s fifth birthday, Farah gave birth to their boy. The couple started making plans to travel and see more of the world. They fantasized about living in Latin America and spoke all the time of such places as the Amazon River, the Galapagos Islands, and the Atacama Desert. They were going to make enough money and move to that part of the world to start their own business venture and roam the continent during their vacations.

The children were eight and three when it was time for Joe and Farah to bid their beloved Mediterranean Sea farewell. Latin America was ready to receive their little family. In the process of selling their belongings, Farah chose to drive the car to a dealership that offered a fair price. She didn’t come back home that day and their vehicle became scrap metal.

Farah still managed to instill a magical feeling in Joseph’s heart even though it has been 31 years since he first laid eyes on her. With his palm resting next to hers on the rock where he sat admiring the view of the ruins of Machu Picchu, Joe turned to her and said, “Every time I sit like this next to you, I remember how you pushed me aside with your butt and gave me those headache pills. I remember how I took the pills although I didn’t have a headache. Only because I would have even swallowed burning charcoal had it been offered to my mouth by your hand, my love.”

Farah did not reply. She just looked at him and smiled. That, to Joseph, meant much more than words.

“Papá, deberíamos regresar. Pronto oscurecerá,” his daughter called to him.

“Coming, love. I’ll meet you and your brother at the bus,” he shouted back as he began going down the hill. After a few steps, Joseph stopped and turned to look at the rock where he sat. A little tear raced down his cheek before he continued his way towards the grown children who had their mother’s eyes.