One-Night Stands..Huh!!

A few days back, I had my first one-night stand. And, boy! Did it turn out exciting?
Actually, it turned out to be a lot more than exciting – adventurous, charming, hypnotic, playful, and completely gratifying.
I fell in love – with Love Story. First time, I completed a book in one night. And it had to be Erich Segal’s Love Story. Segal’s Love Story is one novel that made me respond to the characters and their emotions. Erich shows his dexterity by the names he chose to give his characters, Oliver and Jennifer (I instantly fell in love with the names), and the way he intermixed humour with sorrow.
I liked the humour bit more, though. Both Jenny and Oliver indulge in a lot of wisecracking, spontaneous, and sly humour. Savour one instance…when Oliver graduates to a lawyer with third rank in his class and pops the news to Jenny…

Oliver said, “Hey, you went overboard for me.”
“Don’t’ be too cocky,” she replied. “Third is still only third.”
“Hey, listen you bitch,” Ollie said.
“What, you bastard?” she replied.
“I owe you a helluva lot,” Ollie said sincerely.
“Not true, you bastard, not true,” she answered.
“Not true?” Ollie inquired, somewhat surprised.
“You owe me everything,” she said.

And, this instance, almost bugged me. What do you think when you read this sentence?

“It is not all that easy to make a baby.”

The moment I read it, I thought what the heck. How can a man make a baby? I mean we don’t yet have the techno to make babies, right away. Righto? And goddamn it, it’s after all God’s job to make babies, not men’s…know what I mean?

Now read what followed the above sentence.

“I mean, there is a certain irony involved when guys who spend the first years of their sex lives preoccupied with not getting girls pregnant (and when I first started, condoms were still in) then reverse their thinking and become obsessed with conception and not it’s contra,” reveals Oliver.

Huh! Now you understand why it bugged me. I mean, it’s almost certain that when I assume, I generally ass u and me.

And that is not all. The later part of the story – about Jenny dying at age 25 without experiencing motherhood and Ollie suppressing his emotions – was so touching, so very profound, it pulled a few strings of my heart. And, I would be lying if I don’t confess that it almost moved me to tears. For once, I felt being in Ollie’s place, clutching the hands of Jenny, pleading her not to leave me. Don’t go Jenny, don’t go. Please, for God’s sake, I can’t live without you…

Check out an innocent afterthought that Oliver indulges in when he talks to Jenny who doesn’t yet know she was dying.

“And I told this to God, whoever and wherever He might be, that I would gladly settle for the status quo. I don’t mind the agony, sir. I don’t mind knowing (of Jenny’s impending death) as long as Jenny doesn’t know. Did you hear me, Lord, sir? You can name the price.”

For once, I’ve taken to heart Jenny’s message – Love means never having to say you’re sorry.

Finally, to paraphrase a review of Love Story - this is the book for people who are in love, were in love, or hope to be in love. One thing I’m sure of, you won’t be just a reader, you’ll feel the characters, you’ll respond to their emotions, laugh with them and share the sorrow. I bet, once you read it, it won’t remain a one-night stand, the experience will last for a lifetime.