A Pseudo-philosophical Conversation Between Jeremy and Sandra

"They say my love-stories are too sad", Jeremy said.
"When you lift your pen, do you think: How can I make someone cry today?" Sandra asked.
"But that's the problem - they're not making people cry."
She put her palm on his thigh. "When I was younger, they told us Leah's eyes grew weak from crying, and that's why she was unattracted to Jacob. I was afraid to cry after that."*
He laughed. Their hands laced into each other.
"Do you know why Song of Songs say "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it"?"**
She shook her head.
"Because Solomon knew love is the most destructive force on earth."
Her fingers paused in the middle of tracing the hairs on his chest.
"What is love if not an excuse to keep on hurting someone?"
"Or sleeping with them", she said. He laughed. Her fingers started up again, moving lower and lower down. The sounds of breaths and bodies.

"Do you think words ruin sex?"
"I think the first time you sleep with someone, it's a miracle, and when you talk about it, that lessens it, somehow."
"It's the opposite of the Splitting of the Sea, where the Israelites witness of God's glory added to the miracle."
"Like taking a crap".
She laughed.
"No, I'm serious - what could be more miraculous than that? Yet we have an entire culture - and plumming system - dedicated to hiding it."
"That's because facing our corporeality involves facing our own mortality."
"And now I suppose you're going to tell me about death and sex, and how orgasms were once labeled "petit morts" in French."
"It makes sense - I mean, when you feel a pleasure so intense, you feel you could die from it - like your soul is climbing higher and higher, and if it keeps on rising, it won't be able to climb down, back into your body."
He sat up straight.
"Have you ever experienced that?"
"Maybe". She blushed.
He laughed. "You could have just said yes."
"I was afraid you'd ask me with who, and I'm not sure I want to answer that." She nestled herself into the space between his arm and his chest. They lay sat in silence.
"What are you thinking?"
"You don't want to know."
"Try me."
"The first time is always the best - after that, you begin to notice the imperfections in each other's bodies - and that's why men cheat."
He kissed her neck and whispered in her ear, "I won't cheat - I promise."
She shook her head. "Don't make promises you can't keep." She climbed onto him, and whispered "I have found nothing better for a body than silence"*** into his ear, before kissing his lips. For the rest of the night, there were no more conversations.




* Genesis 29: 17 "Leah's eyes were weak". Rashi comments, "Because Leah expected to be married off to Esau, and she wept, because everyone was saying,“Rebecca has two sons, and Laban has two daughters. The older [daughter] for the older [son], and the younger [daughter] for the younger [son]” (B.B. 123a)." Thanks Chabad for making this source available for free online.
** See Songs of Songs 8:7
*** Pirkey Avot, 1:17 "Shimon the son of Raban Gamliel said, "All my life I have grown up among sages, and I have found nothing better for a body than silence."