Nine Questions about Love

Nine Questions about Love

1.
-Excuse me. What is your first name?
-Gocha.
-Your last name?
-Chopikashvili.
-Gocha, how old are you?
-16.
-Are you in love?
-In love?
-Yeah. Why are you laughing?
-It beats me.
-Whats her name?
-Whose?
-I mean your sweethearts name?
-I dont know.
-Gosh! You dont know the name of your sweetheart?
-No, I have seen her just once and only from a distance.
-What do you think love is?
- I dont know, I guess it is an eternal longing.
2.
-Martha Pirveli.
-Wow! What a beautiful name you have!
-Do you really think so?
- I love it.
-Oh, thank you so much.
-Martha, would you mind if I ask you a few questions about love?
Nine Questions about Love
-No, not at all! I love talking about love. Go ahead!
-All right, please tell me honestly, are you in love?
-No, I am married!
3.
-Your first name please.
-My first name?
-Yes please.
-Kola or Nicholoz, but they call me Nikiphore.
-Which name do you prefer?
-I prefer just Niko.
-Niko, what is your last name?
-Chukurtmishvili, Niko Chukurtmishvili.
-Do you have a family?
-Ive got a son from my first marriage. He is in the army now. I am looking forward to a letter from him.
I also have a daughter and a son from my second marriage. The younger is in the eighth grade and the
older in the tenth. The girl is better in her studies than the boy; he is slightly mischievous, but it does not
matter. When a boy is mischievous, he will learn more about life. He takes after me. My third wife
turned out to be barren but I cant divorce her; her brothers are wild. They can even eat a man.
-What do you think? What is love?
-Youve heard a saying, fear engenders love, havent you? Its a hundred percent true. She is barren, but
her brothers can eat a man, so I have to love her. I have no other choice.
-What can you tell me about your love for children?
- Oh, they are the joy of my life.
-Do you often see them?
-No, but I pay alimony.
4.
- Lado, what grade are you in at school?
-Im already gone into the fourth.
-What kind of marks do you have?
Nine Questions about Love
-I dont know
-A girls from your class told me you get bad marks, is that right?
-Nope.
-So, what marks do you get?
-I get As, Bs; sometimes Cs.
-What is your last name?
-Tsiklauri.
-You have a girlfriend, right?
-Nope.
-Thats what I heard.
-Its not true.
-Is she your classmate?
-Who?
-The one you love.
-I dont love anyone.
- But I was told something else.
-What did they tell you?
-I was told you love the girl who sits behind you in class.
-Are you kidding me? She sits in front of me. Having revealed his secret, Lado blushed with
embarrassment and bent his head.
5.
-..
-What can I tell you about love? I am not at the right age any more.
-What age are you talking about?
-The age when you truly believe love exists.
-Are you trying to say?
- Yes, I used to think love existed, but that was my childish dream.
Nine Questions about Love
-But, how did you come to the conclusion?
-Very simply. When I left school, we broke up. I went to the institute; He went to the army
-What happened then?
-I married my fellow student at the institute.
-Why did you marry the other one? Did not you love the first one?
-You talk like my husband.
-What do you mean?
- Do you love me, dont you love me. Words dont matter here. Words dont even make sense. The main
point is understanding, just simple understanding.
-What do you mean by understanding?
- When he does not ask you to keep him accountable for all your actions, when he does not ask you why
you are late, these are simple things, arent they?
-It depends.
- Ive told you.
-What did you tell me?
-You talk the way my ex-husband did.
-Dont you intend to go back to him?
- Go back to him?
-Excuse the question
-All right.
-One last question. What would you do if you meet him again and he asks you out?
-Who are you talking about?
-Your classmate. He might have left the army.
-Ah, you mean Gocha? We did meet. When he learned that Id divorced my husband, he said he could
not live without me and stuff like that.
-What did you say?
-I told him, Id think about it. The day we met was January 29. We agreed to meet on February 29. I said
Id let him know about my decision then. I did not give him my address on purpose. He had my old
address, but I have moved to another place. In short, I asked everybody, all our mutual friends not to tell
him my new address.
Nine Questions about Love
-But why?
-I wondered if my love for him had been genuine before. If I truly loved him, I would miss him and meet
him on February 29 at the place we said. I did not want to meet him before. Is that clear now? I just
wanted to test myself.
-And what did you find out?
-It was a leap year. February 29 never came.
-So, you did not meet?
-I arrived there on February 28 and on March 1 too.
-He did not come, did he?
-I met him recently and do you know what he said? Im sorry I was not able to come on the 29
th
. Then I
understood that my hope of love was just a fantasy
-And you dont believe love exists.
-Just, no way.
-After all, what kind of relationship would you wish to have?
-Id wish mutual understanding.
6.
-Granma?
-Yes, sweetie
-Grandma, what is love?
-You are honey.
7.
-My name is Appollon.
-What is your last name?
-Mghebrshvili.
-Where do you work?
-There.
- Where?
- Id rather not say.
Nine Questions about Love
-Would you sacrifice yourself for love?
-Who? Me? Sacrifice myself for a woman? Love is not worth sacrificing yourself for?
8.
Young people these days? Theyve lost all sense of shame. They hug and kiss and dont even notice
anyone around. They dont care whether you are there or not. They just say we are in love! And todays
married couples are very different. We never behaved the way they do. We too, were in love. Maybe
they think they love differently because they are educated. Every time I saw my husband my heart
would start thumping. I felt all but I did not let anyone know what I was feeling. I was so shy that
when among people I could not even address my husband by his first name. From the time I met him
until I saw him buried in the black earth, I never looked into his eyes. But now; now they drink each
other up with their eyes.
There is no way you can make me believe in that kind of love.
9.
The ninth and therefore the last question. But why is it the last? Did we find out anything from the
previous ones? In order to find out what love is you can ask as many questions as there are people in the
world and every answer to that question will be right, because each individual has his or her own
perception of love. In the end however the true nature of love will still remain unclear, since love by its
very nature is ever changing and mysterious.
Dont you agree reader?
Just try to answer that question for yourself:
-What is love after all? What is its nature? Would you rather live without love?
Answering these questions would make our story endless and still we would not be able to fathom its
depth. And if somebody stubbornly tries to ask you the question: - Can you prove love exists? There is
just one answer -Love does not need to be proved. It is its own proof.