Work Text:
Yesterday, 13th May, while parading the streets of Madrid and thinking about my old acquaintance Laura, I wandered into a garden of great beauty, that I'd never seen here before. It was concealed from human eyes with a high green hedge and, therefore, seemed to be the only calm place in the world.
Its main alley was planted with already blossoming and smelling very sweet roses of all colours and shades – red, pink, white and even daffodil with vinous edging. In the garden there were also several lanes hidden behind wrought gratings and elaborate gates. But it was impossible to walk through them – each gate was surely padlocked.
After reaching the end of the alley I was going to turn back and leave this miraculous place but suddenly noticed a small gap in the green hedge that a person could easily get through. I was curious wheather there were any more wonders hiding in the garden and so went through the green hedge. On that side of the fence, in a little nook, was a tiny pond, on the surface of which water lilies were swimming, with a fountainlet in the form of a bear under a strawberry tree. Nearby, with his back towards me, stood a curly man in strange clothes.
When he understood that someone intruded on his privacy, he turned around and began to speak:
- Hello, Don Guan! I was waiting for you.
- Do we know each other? – I asked perplexedly.
The man laughed shortly:
- No. Well, not really, - he continued with a soft tone, - you don't know me, but I know everything about you. Because I created you.
- In that case, may I get your name and the reason why you were waiting for me? – my astonishment increased with every word he said, the current situation scared and at the same time intrigued me.
- My name is Aleksandr. But you may call me Alejandro, if I'm not mistaken this is how it sounds in Spanish. And I came here to talk to you, - he answered.
- About what?
- About how you spend your life, - Alejandro hesitated trying to find the right words. – Are you not bored with chasing after every other woman?
- No, not in the least. I like attention of charming ladies. I like to solve their mysteries. All women are so different just like roses in the garden. Each of them is special, not like any other.
- But, Guan, have you never wanted to fall in love?
- No. Love brings only pain. I don't need it.
- Pain is part and parcel of every human relationship, - Alejandro remarked. – This is life: people communicate with each other, become friends, lovers, partners; they lie, betray, hurt one another. Sometimes the same thing our loved ones do, – the man sighed deeply. – But, nevertheless, love is very light feeling. Love is incredible: it inspires, gives a reason to live and imbues you with happiness.
For a short moment the man fell into silence. He took out a round object with a chain out of his pocket and after looking at it put the thing back.
- Alas, it's time for me to go, - said Alejandro with regret. – Good bye, Don Guan! Hope, you'll think over what I told you.
Before I had time to collect myself, Alejandro has already got through the gap in the green hedge. I rushed out into the main alley right after the man to catch up with him, though I didn't entirely understand what for, but he was no longer there.
Abstracted I've been standing in the garden for a long time turning over our conversation about love in my mind.
Everything that happend was very odd. But, to be honest, meeting Alejandro affected me, it changed my attitude to love and also my views on life and the world. I realized that the man was right. Love is beautiful and pain which it may bring is worth all the moments spent with beloved one.
That's why right now being about to visit Laura I can claim with confidence:
- Don Guan, seducer of women's hearts, is ready to find his only one and fall in love with her forever!