chef de proza

'We could begin that story.'
'But this is not the proper audience', she nodded.
He simply smiled, sensing the irony. 'Pride, my dear, is a very common failing I believe. By all that we have ever heard and read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed, that human nature is particularly prone to it. It is true that vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. You agreed that a person may be proud without being vain. And why is that? Because we could present that story anyway. And why again? Because your pride relates more to your opinion about yourself, while vanity – vanity, my dear, is what you believe others will think of us.'

Eliza felt anxious when receiving the remark. Even though ironic, it was his words that always got to her, concluding by a session of endless arguments in her favor. He, on the other hand knew. He knew she will eventually understand and more than that, he knew that she will probably forget. There was the doubt that ever made him be reticent. After a moment of pause, they decided not to join the group laying besides the fire. The evening's purpose was for them to share thoughts, laughs, friendship. This changed of course after a couple of beers. Looking at them, they would see how everything about the two was the symbiosis of contradictions. They simply sat down as if nothing in the world would make more sense. Together, they looked like reason and dream, like spring and autumn, like black and white. Together they turned gray.

The facts at hand presumably speak for themselves, just a bit more open, to be suspected, than facts usually do. As a counterbalance, then, they began with the ever fresh and exciting odium: their own personal discussion. The one he had in mind was not only wordy and earnest beyond his wildest dreams but was, to boot, rather excruciatingly personal. Hers, with the right kind of setting, just grew before her eyes, being comparable in effect to a compulsory guided tour through her imagination - with herself, as guide.

to be continued...