The Non-Shriveling Rose

Scattered Chapters - Chapter 9 (Musicbox)

Sometimes you have to think with your heart instead of thinking with your mind.

I had only few hours before my flight, and I had to do a lot of heart-thinking in order to find her a gift.

I've already searched various malls inspecting every single shop in them, yet I couldn't decide what to buy.

I knew what I was going to buy, the ballet-dancer's music box that she always loved since she was a baby girl. But when I failed to find it, I had to think of other options.

Golden necklace, a ring, or earrings weren't good options because she feared commitment; giving her such gift will push her away and will make her feel uncomfortable. At least this is what my heart was telling me. My mind had another opinion that these gifts will show how much I love her and that I'm generous, something that she will appreciate.

My body was paying the price of the conflict between my mind and my heart, as I was exhausted, I've been walking for almost 5 hours, and I had less than three hours to make it to the airport.

I looked around to see a man who is so focused; he didn't notice that he draw my attention in appreciation of his concentration. I didn't want to disturb him so I leaned forward to see what he was doing. I found out he was writing something on a grain of rice.

"Can I help you with something?" He asked me, as he finished his writing.

"Yes, I believe you can, I was searching all day long for a gift to give my love, and I believe I can find this gift at your shop" I replied, impressed by his work.

"Well, we still have stock from our Valentine's Day collection, you can take a look, there are ...."

"No, I know what I want," I said, cutting off his sentence. "I want to buy a grain of rice to my girlfriend," I said with a smile on my face. "Please write her name on this grain of rice, and then put it into this necklace," I told him, handing him the necklace.

"I can write on both sides of the grain of rice, do you want me to write your name on the other side?" He asked.

"No, I will visit you later, on my next visit I will ask you to write both our names, for now I want you to write only her name," I answered.

We discussed various ideas, he wrote her name on both side, in Arabic on one side and English on the other. We have filled the glass necklace with light orange liquid, and the grain of rice was floating with her name visible.

I collected it, paid for it, and then run to find a taxi to take me to the airport. Unlike Egypt this was an easy task to do.

On my way to the airport, my mind was flashing scenes, like I've opened a window into the future. It was like a butterfly effect, I was able to see every possibility and what will follow; I was even able to feel the pain when I saw it didn't work out between us and the joy when it did work.

"We are here; I wish you a safe trip." The taxi driver said, waking me up from my dreams.

I walked inside pulling my one bag behind me. Everything went smooth I completed the formalities in few minutes, and then sat waiting near the boarding gate.

It is weird how time works, I felt the 5 hours flashed by when I was searching for the gift, while this 30 minutes won't move.

I think Einstein had to take human emotions as one factor into his relativity theory, because we really experience time differently based on our emotional state.

After few centuries relatively equivalent to 30 minutes, I was on the plane ready for the take-off.

The take-off was smooth as well, and then I started searching for a movie to watch, the guy sitting next to me was confused that I'm going to watch a movie instead of trying to sleep. But I was never able to sleep on an airplane. I tried to avoid any romantic movies as I didn't want any more nervousness to take over my emotional state, I could read 'please don't chose a comedy' facial expression of the guy who was trying to sleep. So I ended up with choosing an action movie.

The movie was fun and engaging, but unfortunately as the credits were displayed, I found out that there are still two more hours to go. I didn't know if it was enough for a second movie, so I started reading some of my old poems, the ones I wrote specially for her.

My feelings were the same; I could still connect to these words even though we faced this break-up, even though many years had passed. I wished she can was still reading them too, as I wondered would they shake her feelings too, would they make her heart beat faster, and would they make her love me again!

The pilot announcement killed these thoughts, we were already landing. It was no time for thoughts, it was reality time.