The Boy At The Beach

There was once a boy who was on the beach writing something in the sand. A middle age woman walked up to him and asked him "is this the girl you love?" The boy nodded. She laughed at his response. After she finished snickering at it she asked "what do you know about love?" The boy continued to scribble the name in the sand ignoring the question. The woman then continued on to tell the story of her recent divorce. How she met her now estranged husband when she was 15. They fell in love and dated all throughout high school and how they got married when she was 18 and not a day older. They were madly in love and then reality hit. They worked good for the first few years and were very happy. After a few years it got super hard. They started fighting a lot and disagreeing. They had a kid and that only put more stress on thier relationship. Finally she walked home to his mistress sitting on the couch. She explained they're currently in a battle for the custody of thier little boy and it's been dragging out and wasting time and money. The woman looked at the boy as she said these things. Sometime during her telling this story the boy finished the name he was writing. The lady with all the mixed up emotions of sadness and rage said to the boy "this girl will not be yours in a few years because love is conditional and is never forever." The boy again just kind of laughed. She then asked if this girl had ever said she loved him? The boy shook his head. The girl then asked "then how do you know she loves you? That you guys truly, truly love each other?" The boy shook his head and opened his mouth and spoke these words: "Faith. I don't think I've met her yet. This name isn't even hers. She's the person who keeps me up at night. The one that gives me hope when everything tells me to stop believing. If I don't believe it's forever then what is even the point of living?"

Steven O. Jordan