Creative Writing: The Fragility of Happiness

David had become engaged. He was 38. The trend for men to stay single longer was becoming more widespread. Reasons varied; either it was sudden changes of circumstance or they had financial problems, or they could not find the right woman, or they had just hostility at marrying. As a result, David’s friends pushed him into marriage at every opportunity. But David always refused their proposals with a bitter smile. But, now here, he was engaged, catching off our guard. David was poor. He worked as a salaryman for a small company. The financial uncertainty was likely to have kept him single until he had become aged for marriage. The pathetic appearance of his bachelor life made his friends nudge him to get hitched. However, I had a different opinion about the reason why David had not get marry. As his doctor, I thought David’s defects on his body and this belief gave me a different perspective on why he had remained bachelor into his late thirties. David had led a dissipated life since his university days. But, in given his finances, a wild life meant slumming it. As soon as he had fifty dollars or one hundred dollars in his pocket, he used to dash off to a burger’s restaurant or a house of prostitution. He had a high sex drive and never passed up an opportunity to satisfy his lust. When he met with us, his favoured treat was not a meal but a trip to whorehouse. “I don’t know about quality well, but I am confident to win any guy in the world for quantity!!” David did not hesitate to speak of the number of women he had been with, and would just count them off without distinguishing between them.

By his middle 20s, he was very proud that he had had sex with more than 100 women. For this reason, there was no venereal infection he had avoided. He was also notorious for how much drink he could and he did not refrain from doing the wild thing when infected. Not a single day of the year went by when he was free disease. He had come to see me for an injection because the swelling in his testis forced him to walk awkwardly. As soon as he had fifty dollars or one hundred dollars, his body was certainly led of sexual desire. Naturally, because of this, he had died out his ability to reproduce. I have known these facts very well and it was linked with David’s bachelorhood. It made me sympathetic toward being left him unmarried. He would live a lonely life in poverty and without kids and because there would be nobody to take care of him, when his hair turned gray, he would desperately struggle with adverse circumstance by his own doing. Surprisingly, David went and got himself engaged before we are aware. One evening after dinner a few days earlier, however, I was just reading medical journals, and David dropped by my office. Looking less than happy, he reluctantly answered my questions and tossed me one of his own. “If a guy experienced sexual disease, does that mean he is infertile?” “Not necessarily” “How about the clap?” “He’d still be okay as long as his testis aren’t infected” “A friend of mine had his get infected. He said that he feels hopeless, he got treatment though. Would it be impossible for him to be a father if his balls were infected?” “They may be both swollen…. ” He said. “If the inflammation was not much, it would be okay. ” “Not much? What would you think about my case… mild or severe?”

I looked straight at him. Given how seriously he had been afflicted, for him even to pose the question could not sound like anything but a joke. David’s face appeared serious and dark. He looked down, anticipating my answer. With being absurd, I said “Your case was very much on the light side” “Light Side?” “Absolutely!!”A long time later, looking back on the face of it, my answer must be an effect on his engagement. It was Anderson who brought the surprising news about David’s engagement. As it happened, a few friends were gathered. “What a surprise!” one said sarcastically. I asked Anderson. “Was he dating the girl this whole time?” “Dating? No way!! The only women he knows are prostitutes. I am wondering where he is finding girl to ask out. ” “Maybe there is a gratuity involved?” “Not a chance!” Here I saw the most unpleasant aspect of David’s engagement. If love had made David give up his bachelor lifestyle, we should have been congratulating not criticising him. Even if it were arranging a gratuity that made him decided to marry, we could not really blame him. We all knew his circumstances well. But given an engagement that was the result of neither a romantic relationship nor a financial arrangement, I could not help but come to a leery conclusion. “Well. . Well…” I said in a very irritated tone, “he might get married to save some of the cash he is spending at fleshpots”. Anderson suspiciously looked at me for my cynical answer. “Let’s look on the bright side!” “He’s already in his late thirties. At that age he might want to have kids sitting in a pram. But he just had no ways to find a suitable girl…. ”“Kids? What kids is a guy with testicular infection like that going to have?

Annoyed as I was, I thoughtlessly blurted out a professional secret. I had to stop mind sentence. But I could not swallow back what I’d let slip. “Huh? What are you talking about?” Questions about David’s fertility status came at me from all sides. I couldn’t shirk responsibility for what I’d said, and had a hard time reframing my words. Though I couldn’t be completely sure, David was likely sterile. Still, I hadn’t tested him, so maybe he wasn’t. Irritated by David’s not-so-serious engagement, I let loose a nasty remark but tried to take it back. I made excuses. A young man of 20 at the table piped up, “Life without kids is pretty convenient, don’t you think?”

I picked a bit of an argument to change the subject. “Young guys can’t understand the love a man has for his own flesh and blood. ” I offered a view on the current trend to treat such matters lightly. David held his wedding in secret. None of his friends knew the date in advance. Not only that, his ceremony wasn’t the western type that everybody follows nowadays, but a traditional wedding at his own house. Rumors circulated that although the bride, a roughshod over her wishes. And so the red-light district lost a loyal customer. “There’s a lot to be said for monopoly. ”

So David supposedly remarked to a friend after getting married. Even though his marriage did not come a romantic relationship, the remark hinted that it hadn’t turned out a particular failure. The inveterate bachelor, who used to slake his transient desires with 50 dollars or 100 dollars. Obtained an unimagined right of sole access to a woman. His pride appeared substantial. Although not a love marriage, love appeared to have developed between the couple. David had always worn a gloomy expression but now the brightening of his face made the rumor sound likely. “Be blessed. ”

All of us, me above all, offered heartfelt congratulations on the marriage. At first, I wished that the marriage would turn out happily for the sake of his young bride, who’d wedded David only to become a sacrificial lamb for his lust. Regardless of the motivation may beautiful fruit result!. Don’t let her a victim as your wife! Since she won’t have a chance to enjoy a mother’s pleasure, as a wife let her taste twice the joy of others! Every time I thought of David’s situation, I extended such wishes from the bottom of my heart. Not long into their newlywed life, though, rumors grew little by little that David was mistreating her. Whispers even suggested that the abuse had turned physical. I didn’t pay too much attention, though. When the gossip reached my ears, I couldn’t help but think of the story of a genie from the Arabian Nights. Once upon a time a fisherman was casting his net, but when he pulled it up, he found no fish, just a bottle sealed tightly with a lead cap. Hesitating a moment, he tore the seal apart and pulled off the cap. A strand of dark smoke rose up to the sky and soon coalesced into a huge genie. “The prophet Solomon imprisoned me in this bottle. While trapped inside I swore to myself that if anyone rescued me within 100 years, I would give him an enormous fortune.