999 words
ROMEO AND JULIET IN THE GARDEN OF
EDEN
by
Natalie N. Aydin
“Cast thy bread upon the waters:
for thou shalt find it after many days.”
-Ecclesiastes 11:1, KJV
“All beginnings are difficult.” -The Mekhilta
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“Romeo was never a milquetoast lover.”
That’s what she said, anyway—um, Juliet, I mean. That was not a rather outré thing for her to
say, but whatever—I guess it didn’t really bother me that much at all now.
I was too busy curling up with my
favorite book by the fireplace in my red velvet armchair—but wait, I digress…Let
me start at the beginning…
Romeo was working a dead-end job
for low pay in an ice cream shop when he met Juliet. Now Juliet, you see, she lived not too far
from Rodeo Drive and drove to high school in a red Ferrari everyday where she
was captain of the cheerleading squad.
She lived in Beverly Hills and every guy wanted to date her, or mate
her, or marry her. One of the three
would suffice because it would all lead to the same thing: the entrapment of some type of
relationship. Juliet’s family was quite
well off, while Romeo was from the other side of the tracks, you see. After all, Capulets could not associate with
Montagues. Montagues were their sworn
enemy. At least that’s what Juliet’s
father said; he wasn’t really the charitable type at all, if that’s what I’m
guessing you’d like to know.
At any rate, Juliet stopped in to
get some ice cream. When she walked into
the place, she had a feeling sui generis unlike any other feeling she
had ever had before. She felt warm, starting
with electric butterflies in her tummy that radiated like a glowworm throughout
the rest of her body, starting from her ears and going all the way down to her
toes. It was most unexpected. This was when she saw Romeo’s face for the
first time. It was love at first sight,
undoubtedly. She never thought such a
feeling was possible…but there it was.
Romeo looked up at her, and she felt like he was staring at her soul
when he looked into her remarkably beautiful cornflower blue eyes, her face
like that of a cherub.
Juliet was a beautiful rarity, exquisite—with
a classic beauty about her, even though she was completely devoid of any
makeup. Juliet’s ageless allure was what
drew Romeo to her. She was breathtaking,
captivating, delicate—divine like in an angelic way. This luminous, flawless, fantastic goddess
was a gift from heaven above, Romeo thought—as he sidled up to the counter in
front of this marvelous woman who had stepped into his realm.
Juliet’s mesmerizing, matchless beauty had
Romeo stupefied. He was barely able to
get out the words to ask her what she wanted.
Some chocolate ice cream, she said—with whip cream and a cherry on top,
she said. He smiled longingly and
quickly returned to doing his work to keep his mind occupied, his back turned
to her—as he felt the piercing white-hot stare of her gaze upon him. His tattoos looked amazing on his biceps,
which were all but bursting out of his black muscle shirt. Before she knew it, he was handing Juliet her
ice cream.
“How much is my total?” Juliet asked
sweetly, taking out her wallet.
“No charge…it’s on me. Do you want some sprinkles?” Romeo replied
with a smile.
“I’d…I’d love some sprinkles.” Romeo took out the shaker with multi-colored sprinkles
in them and let her put her own sprinkles on her ice cream.
Just some backstory: Romeo had gone through a bad breakup pretty
recently, over this girl he really had been in love with, Rosaline. Now, there was only Juliet. He existed purely for her, lived for
her. He would die for her, if
necessary. That’s how serious he
was. He decided to go in for the kill.
“Ma’am…”
“Oh, please…call me Juliet.”
“Juliet…what a lovely name.” She smiled when he said that.
“A thing of beauty is a joy
forever,” Juliet responded.
“You are most certainly the most beautiful
thing I’ve ever seen,” he told her.
“Before the ink dries on my last will and testament…let’s get out of
this place and go somewhere where we can talk,” he hung on her every word
intently.
“Okay,” she said with a Mona Lisa
smile.
Romeo and Juliet walked to the
park. Juliet wore a red dress, and Romeo
couldn’t stop staring at her statuesque, majestic beauty that was all
encompassing. He wanted to love her
until the end of time. Juliet, however,
was not sure what she wanted out of life.
She was not sure if she even wanted to date. But she decided to humor this gent who had
asked her to go out with him because he seemed like a nice guy…not like the
other run-of-the-mill roughneck types that sometimes tried to charm her against
her better angels. Since her divorce,
Juliet’s life had turned into a valley of ashes. But now that she was single once again, she
actually was enjoying the freedom. She
didn’t have to worry about darning her significant other’s socks, or doing his
laundry, or any of that wifely type stuff that good wives do.
She enjoyed her freedom. But once she met Romeo, she started to think
that maybe she wouldn’t mind darning his socks. Maybe she could knit him a scarf for his
birthday. Wait, so…but I’m getting ahead
of myself.
Romeo was her phoenix rising from
the ashes. Honestly, Juliet thought she
would never love again. Maybe she couldn’t
love again. But when she saw his face,
all bets were off. She knew that Cupid
had shot his arrow straight through her heart.
Once she tasted the bittersweet fruit of love again, she knew that she
couldn’t live without Romeo. And, truth
be told, he felt the same way about her.
Once they were alone, Romeo and
Juliet became intertwined in true love’s embrace. Here ends our story. And that’s all she wrote.
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