The Other Side of the Lake

The gods throw the dice, and they don’t ask whether we want to be in the game or not. They don’t care if when you go, you leave behind a lover, a home, a career, or a dream. The gods don’t care whether you have it all, whether it seems that your every desire can be met through hard work and persistence. The gods don’t want to know about your plans and your hopes. Somewhere they’re throwing the dice - and you are chosen. From then on, winning or losing is only a question of luck. The gods throw the dice, freeing love from its cage. And love can create or destroy - depending on the direction of the wind when it is set free. For the moment, the wind was blowing in his favor. But the wind is as capricious as the gods - and deep inside myself, I had begun to feel some gusts. At last, as if fate wanted to show me that the story of the Other was true - and the universe always conspires to help the dreamer - we found a house to stay in, with a room with separate beds. My first move was to bath...

I’ve met a man and fallen in love with him. I allowed myself to fall in love for one simple reason: I’m not expecting anything to come of it. I know that, in three months’ time, I’ll be far away and he’ll be just a memory, but I couldn’t stand living without love any longer; I had reached my limit. I’m writing a story for Ralf Hart - that’s his name. I’m not sure he’ll come back to the club where I work, but, for the first time in my life, that doesn’t matter. It’s enough just to love him, to be with him in my thoughts and to colour this lovely city with his steps, his words, his love. When I leave this country, it will have a face and a name and the memory of a fireplace. Everything else I experienced here, all the difficulties I had to overcome, will be as nothing compared to that memory. I would like to do for him what he did for me. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I realise that I didn’t go into that cafe by chance; really important meetings are planned by the souls long bef...

When I was young, I used to go fishing to the lake with Jojo on Sundays. Everyone, including the doctors, engineers, and Mister said that there were no fishes in the lake. The water is too contaminated for the fishes to survive. But we still liked to spend our Sundays fishing around. We had all sorts of fantasies about the other side of the lake. We used to imagine the kind of world that would exist across the other side. The people, how they lived, what they did, how they did it. But every one told us to quit visiting the lake. They said that there are no fishes in the lake so it’s useless to go there. All this useless talk had made us very sad. So, one day we put dead fishes in our rods and hung them down the lake to prove that there were fishes in the lake. And just when we planned to pull the rod out and make a big fake fuss about it, Mister arrived to take us back home. "Still looking for fishes", he smiled. "Just wait and see, we will at least catch a dozen fishes ...

" And why the pain, My Lord..." " For you to appreciate mercy." " And why heartache; crying without shedding tears..." " For you to understand that physical pain is much easier to endure than emotional despair." " And why temptation..." " For you to choose, to decide. I created you an independent thinker." " And why Your worship." " For you to seek, that which is better." " And why the threat of punishment..." " For you to abstain." " And why sorrow..." " For you to appreciate a moment of true joy." " And why joy..." " To wash away your tears." " And why happiness..." " To show you what lies in wait for the best of you." " And who are the best..." " Those who can, but don't...And those who can't, but do." " But why is it easier for a fortunate few..." " It is tougher than you think. Fo...