by Marmoset
"Whatcha scribbling there, Chief?"
"Just tryin' to work something out."
"What's with all the lines and arrows? Is it some sort of geometry problem, or something?"
"Or something. I'm trying to figure out something about love and sex."
"Sandburg, don't you ever think about anything else!"
"It's not like that, Jim. Quit laughin'! I've been reading fan fiction again, you know, stories about the two guys from the TV show we used to watch on Wednesday nights."
"And these stories about the 2 guys got you wondering about love and sex? What kinds of stories are these, Sandburg?"
"Well, actually, they're stories about how the two guys really love each other and how they form such a deep connection that they actually fall in love with each other."
"But Chief, the guys I see on that show are definitely straight."
"Well, yeah, that's pretty much what I see, too. But in these stories, that barrier is eventually overcome by love. And a lot of the stories have the two guys eventually lusting after each other. Sometimes right away but sometimes not. Sometimes the writers have one of the guys feeling lust for the other and that sort of clues him that he loves his friend. And sometimes they feel this deep abiding love but the lust sort of shows up later. ..."
"I see. Well, what exactly were you puzzling about, Chief?"
"Well, I wondered whether love and lust were just part of the same continuum or whether they were really two separate but parallel emotions.
"Like this. See here I've drawn a line, kind of like a time line, moving from left to right. And at the beginning of the line, like the beginning of a relationship we could put words like 'appreciation' then 'gentle affection' then 'friendship' then 'love' then ... do I put 'lust' there?"
"Somehow, that doesn't seem quite right, yet. What did you mean by 'separate but parallel emotions'?"
"Well, in this other diagram I have 2 parallel lines. One has the same stuff as the other line from 'appreciation' to 'deep abiding love' and the other line runs parallel to it with words like 'mild attraction' to 'definite attraction' to 'arousal' to 'wanton lust.'
"Does this fit with how you experience these things, Jim?"
"Actually, I think it's more like ... hair."
"Hair?!"
"Well, not just any hair, Chief. For example, not like my hair; if they were like my hair, we wouldn't have to worry about the ecological ramifications of over-population, if you get my drift.
"No, it's really like your hair, now that I think of it, Chief."
"My hair?"
"Yeah. Feel it. See how the strands twist and twine around each other? How each hair graduates in color along its shaft from chestnut to a lighter, redder color at the tip? How you really have to tug and comb and work at separating the individual hairs, as though they can't stand to be apart. And how even after you brush it or comb it or I run my fingers through it like this ..."
"Mmmmmmmmmmm"
"... how once my fingers slip away from them, they seem to be drawn magically back to one another, unable to remain apart, as though longing for each other.
"Some of the strands drenching in lust, others sighing with love but all so intertwined that to feel one is to feel the other."
(blink blink)
"Chief?"
"Jim? Would you do me a favor?"
"Anything, Chief."
"Follow me ... and bring the shampoo."
Since June 13, 2000, people have read this snippet.
