Thursday 2 January 2014

The argument to end all arguments




It’s strange, but I think if it hadn’t been for that argument I think we might have split up. The relationship had lost its sparkle, its dazzle, its je ne sais quoi. We were going through the motions, arguing about petty little things, getting upset over things we once ignored. We took each other for granted while both of us were trying to find the escape clause in the contract.

The argument that saved us was one of the dumbest we’d ever had. I wanted to take the tram, she wanted to walk, so we stood at the tram stop yelling at each other for the world to see. I was calling her selfish, self-centred, self obsessed, she was saying I was a lazy, fat pig. Then the silence, the staring, eyeball to eyeball like boxers at the weigh-in; only this wasn’t for show, this was for real.

Then she turned on her heel and walked away. She stepped into the road without looking just desperate to get away from me. The tram going down the hill hid the tram coming up it. I could see it, the onlookers could see it but she couldn’t. I called out but she just thought I was telling her to come back not yelling a warning. She was walking straight into the path of a number 22.
Our life together flashed before my eyes, the kisses and cuddles, the smiles and laughs, the hot water bottles and holiday snaps. In those few milliseconds the realisation that I loved her hit me in the face with the force that the tram was going to hit her.

Luckily the driver of the tram saw the mad woman and rang his bell frantically.  Luckily she hadn’t put her headphones in and heard the bell. Luckily she had time to jump back out of the path of the tram. It whistled passed her, her hair whooshing in the turbulence. She stood still for a couple of seconds not knowing what had hit her or not as the case maybe. I stepped into the road and put my arms round her. We stood there for some seconds, her head buried in my chest. It was only when another tram sounded its bell that we moved from the road, still holding each other, tears staining both of our faces.

I whispered I love you into her ear and knew we’d just had the argument to end all arguments. 

11 comments:

  1. This is a lovely story. If only it were realistic. I guess that a few days later another silly argument poisoned their relationship. This is unstoppable .... Once you've uttered nasty words, they never disappear. They'll keep coming back, in a disguise, though. It's really difficult to paper over the cracks in a relationship, even though you feel you love each other. Sometimes it's better to say goodbye. Oh dear, I'm otherwise such an optimist! :-)

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    1. True is, nasty words don't fit in a relationship between lovers. However there must be ups and downs, there must be problems that need to be solved, solved by the two (not just one), there must be mistakes, we learn from them. Every relationship is a lesson, so let's not give up :-) Cos if you do, you most likely meet your other half very similar to the last one ;-)

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  2. If you have to see your whole life passing before your eyes to feel alive is because you are already dead.. perhaps the same phrase applies to loving relationships..

    ..I would like to be that butterfly with a new life to ' feeling good'
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmwRQqJsegw

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  3. .. while I try to become to a butterfly, would you lend me your protagonist to embrace me and whisper in my ear like stopped in time I love you? I feel like I love him too :-)

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  4. why not record this one?.. any argument?

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    1. I am in the UK at the moment but when I am back in Prague I will :-)

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    2. Thank you Sir. You've made my day :-)

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  5. Oh, how sweet:)

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  6. a good story should conquer your imagination and stir emotions, like this one

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