Once upon a time..........

Once upon a time there was a boy who lived in a house across the field from a girl who no longer exist. They made up a thousand games. She was the Queen and he was the King. In the autumn light, her hair shone like a crown. They collected the world in small handfuls. When the sky grew dark they parted with leaves in their hair.

*****

"Let's stand under a tree," she said.

"Why?"

"Because it's nicer."

"Maybe you should sit on a chair, and I'll stand above you, like they always do with husbands and wives."

"That's stupid."

"Why it's stupid?"

"Because we're not married."

"Should we hold hands?"

"We can't."

"But why?"

"Because people will know."

"Know what?"

"About us."

"So what if they know?"

"It's better when it's a secret."

"Why?"

"So no one can take it from us."

*****

"If I had a camera," The boy said, "I'd take a picture of you everyday. That way I'd remember how you looked every single day of your life."

"I look exactly the same."

"No, you don't. You're changing all the time. Every day a tiny bit. If I could, I'd keep a record of it all."

"If you're so smart,how did I change today?"

"You got a fraction of a millimeter taller. Your hair grew a fraction of millimeter longer."

"What else?"

"You got a little happier and also a little sadder."

"Doesn't that means they cancel each other out, leaving me exactly the same?"

"Not at all. The fact that you got a little happier today doesn't change the fact that you also become a little sadder. Everyday you become a little more of both, which means right now, at this exact moment, you're the happiest and the saddest you've ever been in your whole life."

"What about you? Are you the happiest and the saddest right now that you've ever been?"

"Of course I am."

"Why?"

"Because nothing makes me happier and nothing makes me sadder than you."

The History of Love, Nicole Krauss