Stories for the Heart

The Kiss

The Kiss

By: Richard Selzer

I stand by the bed where a young woman lies, her face post operative, her mouth twisted in palsy; clownish. A tiny twig of the facial nerve, the one to the muscles of her mouth, has been severed. She will be thus from now on. The surgeon had followed with religious fervor the curve of her flesh; I promise you that. Nevertheless, to remove the tumor from her cheek, I had cut the little nerve. Her young husband is in the room. He stands on the opposite side of the bed, and together they seem to dwell in the evening lamp, isolated from me, private. Who are they? I ask myself, he and this wry-mouth I have made, who gaze at and touch each other so generously, greedily?

"Will my mouth always be like this?" She asks.

"Yes." I say, "it will be. It is because the nerve was cut."

She nods and is silent. But the young man smiles. "I like it," he says. "It is kind of cute."

All at once I know who he is. I understand, and I lower my gaze. Unmindful, he bends to kiss her crooked mouth, and I am so close I can see how he twists his own lips to accommodate her, to show her that their kiss still works.

******

Sensaina's Note:

What a great love. Can we still find this kind of love in the present time? I mean, we all know that a man like this is REALLY hard to find.

So the queston is, in this very liberated world, can we still find true love?

I already have an answer for this and I want you to discover the answer as well. :)

For the meantime, just enjoy the stories! And feel free to post your comments or views. Thanks!