Deep Purple

"I have often told you stories
About the way I lived the life of a drifter
Waiting for the day
When I'd take your hand
And sing you songs
Then maybe you would say
Come lay with me love me
And I would surely stay... "

"Like hell!" she giggled, "it doesnt happen that way...Deep Purple sings about it only because it doesnt happen!' "What doesnt happen?"he asked, puzzled. "Gosh...all these sick things that they sing about and stuff they write about in poems. It's all so weird, they give me a horrid feeling in the gut!" He looked away sadly not knowing what to say. Songs are beautiful... poems are beautiful, stories are beautiful only because they are not real.. anything unreal is beautiful because they are distant..beyond the comprehension of the normal mind! "Come let's grab a chocolate,"he said presuming that cocoa would raise his spirits as well as hers. His bike was decidedly defunct and funny...it made funny screeches, stopped at the wrong places and refused to stop at crossings. But it remained with him because it always gave them a jolly good ride. Each time it bumped, they screamed with laughter....each time it screeched, life seemed more amusing than ever. That was the charm of youth, that was affection perhaps. They never thought about it... and anyway...was there any need? The bike was old and good enough to be thrown away...but it served them fine and they wouldnt part with it for all the gold in the world! A chocolate did them good. They began to grin once again, cracking stupid meaningless jokes and sat under the evening sky singing songs which either made no sense or very little of it.

"Dont go!"he said as she rose and dusted her jeans,"not this evening atleast. Stay with me... I feel cold...I feel lonely!" "You fool!"she laughed, "let go off my hand. I cant stay... you know full well I cant stay. Mike's waiting for me and he'll be cross if I dont turn up.I cant stay!" She left, taking away with her the warmth which her aura radiated. "Why does she do this?"he thought aloud,"what does she achieve?" He rode back home on the bike... no longer funny now,realising that someone was missing. He saw her climb onto Mike's car,flashy and dolled up, laughing like a wanton. "That bitch!" he smirked angrily,"I'm not going to have anything to do with her anymore!" He never had anything to do with her...they belonged to different worlds. Yet neither of them realised or even tried to realise why they spent most of their time with each other. How much he wanted to hate her and how miserably he failed... it frustrated his efforts, defeated his spontaneous male truculence. It was a very blue morning the following day and she was at his door looking prettier than any angel in the fairy tale books. "Oh you can hate me later!"she giggled,"I need your goddamn bike! Come lets go...we're getting late!" "I'm not coming,"he replied drily,"you get going and you can take my bike if you can ride it yourself." "Off course not! You know full well that I'm tired... I've had a late night and you'll take me on your bike, wont you?" He glanced at her angelic face, her eyes were so pristine, they could put a saint to shame and he could feel his knees begin to shake. Why was it so impossible to hate this loathsome woman? And he was very certain that he did not love her...not in the least. There was no emotion in his heart akin to love. Why could he not slap her with all his might when that was the only thing he wanted to do? "Look here,"he began curtly,"get out! I dont particularly enjoy looking at your face in the morning. You're dreadfully ugly and I cant tolerate you. Go!" She laughed her wanton laughter once again. "Come on! You're being hopelessly jealous. I have always spent my evenings like I spent the last evening. What's wrong with that? It's fun and I have nothing to worry about." She drifted away...the damned drifter! He sank into the sofa sadly. She was his only friend, he knew that full well. His parents had separated and abandoned him... he was nineteen and old enough to fend for himself. Is any tenderness at all left in this world? Something wrenched at his heart... what is so impossible about love that all should run away from it?What was so frightful?

"The sky is red, I don't understand,
past midnight I still see the land.
People are sayin' the woman is damned,
she makes you burn with a wave of her hand.
The city's a blaze, the town's on fire.
The woman's flames are reaching higher.
We were fools, we called her liar.
All I hear is "Burn!"
He usually listened to Deep Purple at this hour of the day,when the sun sank below the horizon leaving behind a gorgeous mess of purple on the sky. "BURN!" He almost jumped out of his skin as she came in screaming. "Hey turn it on louder...it's fun!" He gave her a weak smile. "I'm tired, he said,"I cannot argue with you. Leave me alone!" "Burn!"she screamed even louder and pranced around the room munching on a bar of chocolate. Having had enough of the amusement, she came and sat down on the floor in front of him, ramming a peice of chocolate into his eager mouth. "You bitch!"he laughed and put his arms around her. Perhaps it was not always necessary to be in love to enjoy someone's company, he thought to himself. "Why do you think so much?"she rejoined,laughing,"it's not needed. Live for the moment...do what you think will make you enjoy the moment. Right now I'm enjoying my time with you, I wont remember this when I see John later this evening. This wont mean much at that time. Remember, you can be happy only if you live for the moment...not think of what you'd done earlier or what you'd be doing later on. Just relish the moment as the largest molecule of time!" He nodded his head wisely, not quite agreeing to the philosophy of life that she preached. Yet strangely enough, that moment felt so good, so celestial..he wished it would last a little longer than a moment knowing full well that it was the greatest paradox of life. The moment is the largest molecule of time and yet all too short to relish the essence. He looked at her sadly once more, wishing that perhaps she would stay with him a little longer this evening. And before he realised what he was upto, he held her hands and entreated once more,"Perhaps you can spend this evening with me...Please!" She wrung her hands free. "Oh come on...you're such a bore. A helpless nineteen year old kid. It's fun hanging around with you sometimes, but an entire evening...heavens help me! And yes..." she still hadnt said it all,"dont tell me things like you love me and stuff. I dont understand all that nonsense. I know what you're looking for, but sorry child...I'm already booked for the evening!" She picked up her purse and slung it across her shoulders. Her forbidden beauty appeared all the more lethal. He could not understand the sudden welling up of tenderness in his heart as he saw her pack up to leave, something like he wanted to wrap her in his arms, rock her like a baby, kiss her forehead and show her how beautiful life could be!

"Wait a minute,"he said,"I'll drop you on my bike. You can tell me where you want to get dropped. Meanwhile we'll have a great ride on the way...whaddya say?" "Groovy!"she screamed with excitement, "I'd love a ride...I love that ridiculous bike of yours. Yup gimme a ride..who knows, I might not be able to ride it again." They bumped away together, laughing in wild abandon. Minutes later,the laughter converted into the frightened shrieks of a woman and finally all noise stopped altogether. There was just the roar of the bike's engine and his breath as he climbed down the cliff precariously..................................................................................................
He kissed her on the forehead the following morning after she woke up from the slumber of sedatives and the aftermath of a surgery. Her face was swollen with resentment and a hurt ego. "What's all this?'she screamed as soon as she saw him. "Calm down,"he said quietly,"there's been an accident. They're all trying to fix you up.you shall be fine soon." "You damned liar!"she screamed furiously,"why dont you tell me that I wont be able to walk again? why dont you tell me that I'm stuck in this wheelchair for life? why dont you tell me that I look ugly and that no one will ever look at me again?" He wiped the hot tears that streamed down her cheeks leaving ugly streaks on her amazingly soft skin. "I've come to take you home,"he said,"and to tell you that you're staying there with me, now that you have nowhere else to go." "I'm not coming,"she said, her eyes filled with her broken self pride. He wheeled her away, patiently wiping her tears and kissing her head. "Can you play me 'Child in time'?"she told him as they sat by the window under a purple evening sky. The hue had descended from the sky on her lovely face and he wrapped her in his arms like he always wanted to. "Sweet child in time you'll see the line... The line that's drawn between the good and the bad..." Deep Purple's exquisite brand of rock music began to play. And as they sat silhouetted against the evening sky, as he stroked her hair and looked tenderly into her eyes, life could not be prettier. As he tucked her into bed that night, and watched her face scrunched against the pillow, he whispered almost inaudibly,"I'm sorry...but there was no other way in which I could keep you with me, to show you how much I can care for you. I hope you never know that I had pushed you into the cliff. You're safely snuggled in my arms....sweet child in time, you'll see the line...." He sang to himself in the deep purple of the night!