A picture tells a thousand words - by him

A man sat with a tiny white laptop,

hammering away on tiny keys as a story flowed from his mind.

Smiling as he typed he worked against the little clock counting down on the bottom of the screen.

The low battery sign flashed once more.

He sighed to himself.

He had told her a fib, that he was round the corner at a wine bar chilling out,

I'll finish my wine and drop something off soon

So there he was at the restaurant, trying to build a universe out of words.

Scenes flashed in his mind, colours clashed and heroes triumphed.

Then the tiny laptop issued its ultimatum, battery critical

The man closed the lid and jumped into the car, driving that growingly familiar road to his apartment.

Throwing open the door and straight to the couch he sat in long brown coat and all, feeding the hungry white beast its life line and letting the story continue to pound on.

When it was finished, he wrapped it in a letter, and smiled as the send button was hit.

As you have gifted me so many originals, so I gift you this humble one

A picture tells a thousand words he thought to himself, and so it goes.

a prop - by Her

She did not tell him that she might go with him on that road trip to Melbourne. Still pondering....she did not take these things too seriously.


He resigned from his job in Adelaide, started packing up and getting ready to go back. Worst case scenario, if he could not find anyone to go with him, he would most probably go by himself.

.....


2 weeks before he was due to leave...


She found a little golden metal ball in her power box, the golden ball was attached to a red string, and a small note. 'Every story needs a prop,' he said.


She smiled. She knew what the story was about.


It was a story that was written by him long time back. The story about a king who wanted to grant his sad and lonely princess daughter a smile. The king asked the princess what type of man would make her happy. She said, a man who would get her the sun. The king gathered all the officials, the wizards, the geniuses, the scientists, the knights and all other people. The king announced, 'my dearest daughter is very lonely, and she has asked for a man who would get her the sun. Whoever who's able to get her the sun will inherit my throne and my daughter as his wife.'


Then everyone tried but only to fail. Some died, some were severely injured, some were eaten by monsters and dragons on their way to get the sun.


One day, the jester knight who has observed the princess thought to himself, 'maybe I can try, I might know what she wants.'


He went up to the princess and asked, ' my lady, may I ask, how do you like your sun to be?'


The princess looked out of the window and said, 'just like that.'


The jester knight asked again, 'What colour do you want your sun to be?'

Princess said, 'just like that too.''


Jester knight,' Very well, I will get you your sun tomorrow.'


The princess was pleased and nodded her head , no one has asked what she really wanted.


The jester knight went home and worked the whole night. The next day he came back to the princess with a little golden ball, 'my lady, isn't this the sun that you wanted?'


The princess held up the little golden ball between her thumbs and asked what was inside the little sun.


Jester knight said, ' My heart, since we were both growing up in the castle I have adored you from afar. And now I have brought you a sun the same size and the same colour as that one, and encase within it a little golden heart that is mine. '


The princess's eyes were filled with tears of joy. For truly she had found a man that would do anything for her.


And of course, like all fairy tales, the jester knight inherited the kingdom and married the beautiful princess, and they lived together happily ever after.


----

She knew what this little golden ball was about. The silly man later said that he saw it in a perfume shop. This golden ball is about 4 centimeters in diameter, was designed to hold perfume in it. However the ball was already reserved for a customer.


The owner of the shop said she had one at home. He said he really needed one to make his story complete. The story was written for a girl whom he really admired. Okay, the shop owner said she would bring it in the next day.


He finally got his golden ball and left it in her power box.


--------


1 week before he was due to leave Adelaide....


He dropped by her place, begged for 15 minutes of her time....please....


They ended up talking for more than an hour in the car. She was really tired, and she had a long day the next day ...but she did not really want him to go. Time was tight and he was going to leave Adelaide...


He gave her a big wall clock, the Coffee Clock , he named it. It was a beautiful brown coloured clock that he bought from some random shop. ''Please keep the clock, and I know that you love your coffee...' he said.


But he was actually going to say, 'please remember me whenever you see the clock. '

(Long overdue) She said yes to the invitation - by Her

(It has been a long overdue post...I hope I'll remember all the details,, up to this post it's about events that occurred in July 2008)


So they began to develop a beautiful friendship between them. The blue and the yellow bubbles coexisted in her mindscape.


She did not know where this would go. Like she had been mentioning in the many posts in the past, she did not want to venture into any relationship. She just wanted to be left alone.


And this friendship with him was good. He was kept at the periphery of her world, one foot in , and one foot out. Don't go away, yet don't come too close, please.


At this stage he was getting ready to go back to Melbourne. That's another reason why she did not want to let herself fall for him. How could she leave Adelaide and her comfort?


He made an invitation to his group of friends here. The offer was very tempting: a road trip with him in his car to Melbourne, a day or two of city tour, free accommodation and a complimentary return flight. A few friends of his expressed interest but for some reason it didn't work out at the end.


It just so happened that she had a few off days in that week (or maybe it was God?:P)


She thought...why not. She's never been to Melbourne. She's never visited the beautiful Great Ocean Road, and she really wanted to have a mini holiday and take some good photographs.


So she took the offer. Yes, I will go with you.


He was ecstatic. He began his careful planning for the road trip. What he did not tell her then was revealed at the later stage. If the travel companion was someone else, it would only be a straight drive to Melbourne. If it was her, it would be a 2-3 day of road trip on the Great Ocean Road. And he secretly hoped she would take the offer.

Hey readers!

we've been busy busy house buying and wedding prepping!

But don't worry, there's more building rome to come.

The count down

It was mid afternoon and the boy was number crunching at his office desk.

The phone buzzed... twas the Doctor girl.

"Now?" He wondered as he picked up.

I've been blocked in and I can't get to work...

I'll be there in 10 mins he said.

The blue volks made its dash down Payneham road.

1 block from the destination the phone buzzed again,

Hey I managed to get the neighbour to move, I gotta rush to work now.

Thanks for every thing.


He drove back to the office slowly... perhaps, he wondered to himself... she might actually have wanted him around...

I will go... - By Him

To the boy things were going well enough, 

asides from mroe than a few temper tantrums from the girl he was by all accounts, gaining ground at a slow but seemingly steady pace.

An idea struck with him that he would love to take this photographer girl down the great ocean road.

That he would then be able to watch her get lost in her photos as he bid adelaide goodbye.

He broached the topic with her first.

So... I was thinking of taking the great ocean road back to Melbourne and would really like a driving companion, I figured you'd enjoy the scenery and take some good shots along the way.

This was not received in the warmest of tones...

Sounds interesting, I'll think about it and have a look at my roster to see if I'm free that weekend...

The boy then set out to plan the entire move back around this yet to be confirmed trip back...

So much so that one day soon after he realized that if the girl turned him down he'd be stuck with a long and lonely drive back to melbourne solo... 

Just to cover his bases he announced at their connect group that he was recruting for drivers...

but all the while he hoped that the girl would come...

 

by her - Building Rome

The bubble was slowly thriving in the mindscape, and of course, it was the girl who graciously let him stay where he was.

Complacent and cold were the words to describe her. He said she was lazy. She hardly made any effort to get to know him at all. The poor man must be drained. Yet he would not leave, as though the girl was telling him once again, silly boy, don't go.

Her mom left. It was a cold winter night when he was sitting in the living room that he told her, 'It's ok ...take however long you want, I understand and I will wait for you. Rome was not built in one day. What I am doing now is not just to stack up a few bricks and build a room or a house. I am building an empire. '

She foolishly said,' what makes you think you are building this alone?'

He was surprised to hear this. The ice princess is buiding Rome with him? He had never even dared to imagine this!

Yes....to him, the chasing and the knocking down of the old thick fortress walls were always seemed to be done single-handedly.It had almost become habitual. Rejection was something that he had learned to live with.

Building an empire together...building Rome together... somehow she was thrilled by this.


-----


Another rainy night in winter. Another turning point.


They spent the afternoon together. Actually that wasn't quite the right word. Just that the boy had an off day that day, he followed her to run her errands.


Then they went for an arthouse film, and it became too late and the girl had to give her gym work out a miss(and she was a very grumpy girl when she missed her workout). That was the first time she 'did something for him'.


He was overjoyed, it meant another 2 hours to spend with her.


They went shopping on the Rundle. As usual, she got impatient when he was trying something on, so she left and moved on to other shops.


15 mins later she headed back to that shop just to find that he wasn't there. It was a very crowded mall on a Friday night, she thought she'd lost him. For some reason she was panic-stricken and she started looking for him frantically among the crowd. Where are you? Where are you?...


Then she saw him, standing across the crowd, looking at her, smiling . He was there the whole time, watching her find him. She walked to him ...some tears in her eyes, a smile on her face, and some warm fuzzy feeling in her heart.


No one had waited for her like that across the crowd of ppl, no one wondered where she was when she was lost, no one had smiled and looked at her with anticipation and invitation in the eyes as she walked through the crowd.


It was a cold night in winter, but for the first time, her heart was warm again.