The One

 If ever there was a time when two people were in love, it was my time.  Movies are made from dreams, and love is something you dream about, so what made this love so special?  Was it love?  Only time can answer that question, but I know that it happened and that is good enough for me.
 It all started about 22 years ago, or maybe before that, but I have only existed that long.  My parents wanted a child to fulfill their marriage.  They didn't care what they had, but a boy was fine with them.  When I appeared that morning to the doctor delivering me, I was already crying, which I guess was my way of telling everybody that I was here.  I was cuddled and loved and fed and nursed, which I guess was what my world was all about during my first few months on this earth.  I had no cares in the world.  It was my world and no one was going to interfere with it.  Even when my parents left to go somewhere, I always had the sense that they would be coming back to be with me.  After all, where would they go without me?  Everything revolved around me, and I knew it.  If I wanted something, I would just cry and I would get it.  I had it made in the shade.
 At least, I had it made until I was three.  When I was three or that was what my Mother said I was, my Father ran away from home, and I thought that that sort of thing was reserved for kids like me.  I didn't know that grown-ups could run away, too, but I guess so, because my Father took off with a friend of his from high school days.  My Mother never got over him leaving.  I guess he waited around long enough for me to walk and then he left.
 It was rough for awhile, but we managed, with Mother working at the grocery store as a check-out lady,  When I got old enough to go to school, I did.  I told all my friends that my Father died.  It was better than saying he ran away, because I don't think they would understand.  Anyway, I was okay in school.  My first-grade teacher and I got along just fine, but I still failed most of my tests.  I just didn't care.  That feeling of mine would carry with me all through my school days.  I passed first grade, but I couldn't ever tell you what we did there.