Dr. Peter

This is my new story.

95% is real.

The tiny tourists city on the sea was a relaxing place. It was something you could feel once you entered it and so did the young couple that came from the big city. It was a difficult time for the young couple; time of confusion, anger, bitterness, and other words that describes deep negative emotions. However, the magic of the city took all of these negative feelings away and substituted them with the most profound and simple emotion of it all: love. The city was known for many years to be the medicine for bad times, her old streets cured everything, the fresh air from the sea weaved himself among the houses saved everything, and the nice calm people of her took away the pain.

On their first evening in the small town, after driving a long way and spending some hours at the beautiful beach, the couple decided to go and tour the old city. Hand in hand, love in their hearts, they stroll the old streets of the town. Reading signs, staring at people, watching shops, picking through houses’ windows, crossing old bridges, admiring the old Vs the new.

The young couple stopped on one of the bridges. It was a white wooden bridge over a small canal. On both sides there were old buildings, probably commercial warehouses in the old times they were now exclusive apartments. One building in particular caught their eyes. It was the closest building to the bridge; the style was antique and charming, red brick stones, arched windows, however the things that really caught their eyes were state of the art, modern, metallic balconies that were added to the old building and were hanging right above the canal.

The girl, who was known to get excited about everything beautiful in the world, could not hold her enthusiasm, she kept talking and pointing at the building and laughing and telling the boy how much she likes it. She even waved a hearty hello to an old fellow that was sitting at one of the balconies. The man, who had white hair, waved back, smiling perhaps.

The couple continued to talk and then the man with the white hair said “It is an old city you know” and for a short time they were engaged in a small conversation about the antiquity of the town and her history. Then he looked at them for a second, as if he was examining them through his eyes and mind and said, “Would you like to come over and see the view that I see from my balcony?” The couple was looking at each other, as peculiar as it may be - they were, after all in a country where people’s doors (minds) were sometimes if not often closed – and although it was an unusual invitation, both of them were not surprised. It made sense.

The couple went to the building’s entry where the white haired man was waiting, shaking their hands and inviting them in. The apartment was wonderful; colorful and stylish. The man showed them around; the inside windows were designed like a ship’s windows, they were round. The closet door was made of fabric and resembled a white spotless sail. The library had red shelves that held many books (the girl overcame her desire and urge to go through them and touch them), the bedroom had a marvelous purple rag, that went well with gray curtains and the kitchen was reflective with mirrors and mirror like surfaces. In the opposite walls of every window there was a floor to ceiling glass window, the man explained how the weird looking indoor windows captured the sun and made the apartment extremely light and sunny. All over there were art objects, unique looking lamps, old fossils, and other peculiar item such an old family treasure, a bad rest with a wooden craving of Jesus and the apostles, that the man declared that the dated back to the 15^th century.

The couple followed the man in his apartment, he was excited and happy and it seems he was enjoying showing and sharing his apartment. The young couple felt a but weird, they didn’t know the man and yet he was sharing his house with them, explaining things, showing the logic behind the design of his house (which he did himself). They were not used to such glamour and richness and style, they were after all, young.

Then they followed the man to the bedroom, where a picture of a nice lady was hanging from the ceiling. “This is my wife” he said to them “She died in last March, we moved here not so long ago before, she was very ill and said I need to design the apartment because I will probably live here without her. She died three weeks after we moved in”. Under the lady’s picture was a funeral card with a few lines; the girl approached it (she was not one to resist reading things when seeing them and so was the boy). She moved closer and tried to read the language she barely controlled. “I wrote it for her” said the man, “I wrote it”. The couple was reading it together, the girl read the sentences and the boy was translating them:

You took my heart with you

And I took yours

So you live forever within mine

And I died with yours

Tears were falling from the girl’s eyes. It was so beautiful she could not help it and cried. “It’s beautiful,” she told the man who was smiling happily at her compliment. After the apartment tour the man showed the couple to his balcony, the sun was almost gone and the evening colors were surrounding the canal so the wooden bridge was not so white anymore and the long evening shadows were covering it. When asked for his name replied the man that he would answer questions later, now he want to offer them a glass of wine if they will not refuse. The couple agreed and the man went to the kitchen to get the wine.

While the man was gone the couple exchanged funny looks, what a great adventure!

They thought to themselves. The man returned with a wine which, he explained, comes from one of the oldest monasteries in the south of the country where it’s being storage in the deepness of earth as it was for many centuries and has an excellent reputation. The man said that the wine’s aroma is masteries and deep, it’s smell is strong nevertheless the taste is gentle, and then he said it will be the perfect wine for their meeting for the reason that they are all strangers, unknown to each other and in such a fragile situation a wine like this, strong, mysterious, yet satisfying, is the perfect wine. The couple, which did not know much about wine, was excited and they all cheered. They introduced themselves to the man; the girl mentioned her homeland and the man, quickly to respond (like every other native of her new home, hearing the name of her homeland always brought a strong reaction; always positive though), his words were enigmatic. He said, “In this night we will not meditate on the past and will not excavate in the layers that happened, we will be engaged in the new and the now”. The girl was confused but didn’t bother saying anything; she thought History was for fools, yet she was one of the biggest fools on the hill.

Drinking the excellent wine, the man, who gave them his business cards (and from now on will be known as Dr. Peter), explained a little about the history of the old town. He showed them the church tower, not far away from his house, which at nights, he said, is covered by the city lights that make him fit perfectly into the modern environment around him. He kept going with stories, fascinating the couple that was happy to listen to his stories. He told them about his wife and their house in the south. The house was big and had a huge garden, the garden was incredibly magical and a story was written about it and was even published in a book about gardens. Afterward he showed them photos, taken by his friend, photos of a canal in the area, in early morning, the photos were breathtaking, misty and colorful. He also told them about his profession, how he used to be a social worker and then became a Philosopher of the Ancient Times, how he reads old texts in Latin, how he investigates things he is interesting in (like the history of the town) how he deals mainly with “perspectives”. The girl, who lacked some philosophical qualities, didn’t understand the meaning of it all but didn’t bother to ask, the boy on the other hand, looked like he knew exactly what Dr. Peter meant. When the girl asked if he misses the south, Dr. Peter answered that he does not let emotions like “missing” intrude his life. “I once lived there, with my wife and we had an amazing garden, but now I live here and I have an amazing apartment, so missing is not what I will use to describe how I feel about the place I have been before”. The girl was trying to memorize his words, she had serious problems with missing things and places and people and she wished she knew how to use the method the Dr. Was using. The boy was not surprised, he was exactly like that, he was never missing anything he had or met in his life, he never missed places, people or events, he was trying to live the now, the present, and wherever he was with whoever he was, he was trying to make the best out of it and live it happily.

Although the sun disappeared a while ago, the light was lingering for a few more hours as it was the custom at the north of this country, however, all of a sudden it became dark, the light was gone and artificial lights were flickering all over. Dr. Peter turned on the lights on the balcony; the lights came from the two large plastic pots that were standing there and from an additional large white ball. It was surreal. Red plastic, white plastic and people are talking.

Dr. Peter said he will now show them the evidence that the world is really old, and he showed them fossils that he find while digging in his garden in the south, he showed them the shell fossil and asserted that it was more than millions of years old, he also said “The fossils in my garden are the proof that millions of years ago the entire area was under the ocean”, the girl was excited (after all women are excited creatures) and quoted one of her favorites heroes, Leonardo da Vinci, who said that the top of the mountains were once the bottoms of the oceans (she always imagined him writing it while strolling outside the mountain side of Florence).

Soon the conversation was about what Dr. Peter is doing or what Dr. Peter already did, “I like to ask questions” he said, “That’s what I do, raised questions and then try to find the answers”. “I thought you are giving answers,” said the girl, “No”, he replied, “I only ask questions which is the most important and the most interesting thing one can do ”. “Exactly like what Einstein used to say,” smiled the girl, “The most important thing is to never stop questioning”. “All humans do that,” said the boy, “we are all asking questions, living our lives looking for some kind of an answer”. “Isn’t that’s what life is all about?” replied the girl, “Aren’t we all looking for the answer yet we often forget that our questions might be similar yet the answers are completely different from one person to another? My answer is not necessarily your answer” and she looked at the boy, lovingly.

Words were flying and were rapidly exchanged, thoughts were described and ideas were discussed and soon the couple turned to leave. Although they didn’t finish the bottle of wine, and although they felt like they could stay and talk on the balcony forever.. They did not want to overstay their welcome and had to say good-bye.

Promising to meet again, soon if possible, they left with a big smile on their face and a bottle of wine in their lap, a present from Dr. Peter. “One evening, open it, drink it and remember our wonderful night together” he asked them.

Walking back the girl said, “I know when we should drink the wine”, “When?” asked the boy, “September 8^th” she answered and they both smiled, it was the date they met. The boy held the girls hand, strongly, making her feel he is her world, making her feel safe and loved. She pressed it strongly in return.

Upon returning to their big city apartment the girl immediately turned to her computer to search for Dr. Peter.

The search engine brought only one site back:

“Dr. Peter, Philospher, 1946-2002”

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Yes, the last sentence is part of the 5% which are not real.
Thanks for reading!