[Verhaal] Nathaniel & Calante

[John Sickbock]

Mijn verhaaltje. Wie er iets over te zeggen heeft is van harte uitgenodigd dat te doen!

Tijmen


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Nathaniel was coming to visit his friend, Calante. He hadn’t seen her for a long time, and he was eager to see her again. So was she. When he arrived at the airport, she was there. She said “Hi” and immediately started walking towards the exit. He followed. When they were waiting for Calante’s friend to come pick them up with his car, Nathaniel felt he wanted to say something. “I’m really glad I’m back here with you again, Calante. I’ve been looking forward to this moment for a long time...” Calante replied “I’m glad too. But tell me, what exactly have you been looking forward to? What exactly is it you like in being here with me?”

Calante often said unexpected yet very personally relevant things, or personally threatening things, in a very casual way. This was one of the things Nathaniel liked so much about her. One of the things that he had missed for so long. He knew that he would have some difficulties adapting to that again. In the place where he was from, people never did that: they were most careful not to hurt anybody’s feelings, or in any case they didn’t care enough about these sorts of questions to ask them. In some movies, people were like Calante. Nathaniel told himself that he’d better be as honest and direct as possible, and put effort into that. After all, Calante seemed to expect it from him and others, and, maybe even more important, he really liked this attitude, although he hardly ever met somebody that liked it too.

“Well, Calante, one of the things I like so much about you is that you always speak your mind, without constraints. Like what you asked me just now. Most people I know would never do that. I think you have many good ideas and attitudes in general. In short, you’re a very inspiring person.” Calante: “I see. So might it be the way you like watching movies with inspiring characters in them? I always search for inspiring people as well. But if this is it, then why would we say we’re friends? I mean, isn’t being friends about something else, about more than just inspiring stories and appearances? I don’t know, but this thought just occurred to me.”

Yeah sure, Nathaniel thought, why wouldn’t you start discussing the fragile nature of our relationship that way, why not... because nobody else would ever even mildly consider doing that? Never mind, Calante does it, and it’s entirely normal for her... The adaptation might be a trifle more difficult than he had foreseen. But again, this was what he loved in her, so he took a deep breath and tried to play the game with her – knowing quite well that for her it was not a game or anything special otherwise, but simply the normal course of life.

“I don’t know... maybe you’re right. I never thought about it this way. Well in fact I did, but I didn’t find an answer for myself. But allow me to ask another question: what do you think I am for you? I mean you got all these friends that you’re always so enthusiastic about but you never say anything like that about me, so what’s the special thing with me, Calante?” Calante: “I don’t know, Nathaniel. I do know I like you, though. Well this might sound a bit sad, but the comparison of you with my friends here isn’t very relevant, because you’re from another place: when I was there, with you, my friends weren’t anywhere near, so there was no such comparison. I don’t know what it would have been like had you lived here. Maybe we wouldn’t have been friends, maybe we would. If we wouldn’t, we should be thankful that that is not the situation, right? But again, I don’t know.”

Nathaniel felt that the adaptation would be another trifle more difficult. So he was (or, officially, “might be”) simply a good second. Still nice, be he wasn’t too sure how nice he really found it. In fact, this was exactly what he had feared for a long time. And now, Calante had said it too.

“Hurray, so I’m, let’s say, a good second. That sounds nice...” Calante: “Nathaniel... I said I don’t know. But you asked me what I thought, and I told you.” Nathaniel: “Yeah I know. I should have known this. You never make any effort to prevent feelings from being hurt. And believe me, I like that. I’ve long dreamt about being with somebody like you, and they were nowhere to be found. But I just came from a place where everything is different, I need some time to adapt...” Calante: “I see. Well I’m sure you can adapt, especially if you like it. But would you expect or want me to do something different? I told you the truth, what else do you want me to do?” Nathaniel: “Well you know... Oh I don’t know. It’s nice to tell the truth, but...” At this point, Nathanial realized that he was doing something stupid: ending a sentence with “but” and not knowing what the coming “but”-sentence would be was a childish mistake. So he tried to make it into something as honest and direct as possible: “... but still I don’t like it.”

At that point, an airport police officer came closer, because he had the feeling that these people were starting to get into a bad argument (that guy looked really upset), and it was his task to keep the peace. “What’s going on, Miss, Sir?” Calante waved him away: “It’s nothing, officer.”

That was it for Nathaniel. If Calante said “it’s nothing”, she meant it. So it’s nothing, hey.... “It’s nothing, hey? It’s nothing. It’s just any random daily chat. Apparently, I’m just not good enough because for me this is not normal. Believe me, I would have loved to be what you are. Loved it. Dreamt about it. I cannot do it. Apparently, I found out too late. Apparently, I’m not going to get there. My honest and direct conclusion is that I shouldn’t be here. Bye Calante, and thanks for showing me all this.” He jumped in front of the truck hat happened to be passing by at just that moment. Deadly jump.

Calante wept... but there was nothing she could do. She told herself that unfortunately he wasn’t strong enough.

[.krz]

Geeh! Echt een geweldig verhaal. In eerste instantie wilde ik het niet lezen, want mijn wazige hoofd stond niet echt naar engels zo op de vroege morgen. Maar na 1 alinea wilde ik doorlezen, dus dat is een heel goed teken. En een mooi einde, tenminste als ik het goed begrijp.

[Gothmog]

ik heb ook de eerste alinea gelezen en ik vond het niet boeiend genoeg.

[John Sickbock]

Gothmog schreef op 20-01-2004 @ 17:29:
ik heb ook de eerste alinea gelezen en ik vond het niet boeiend genoeg.

Dat is het probleem met inleidingen ja: de eerste alinea op zich is niet boeiend. Helaas.

Tijmen

[.boris]

Ik heb het niet helemaal gelezen ik heb al genoeg gelezen vanavond, maar ik vind de manier waarop je het engels gebruikt niet echt goed, met engels kan je dingen als het goed is veel mooier omschrijven en met veel meer verschillende woorden dingen brengen, ik vind je engels te 'basic' om verhalen mee te schrijven. Maar wat ik gelezen heb was als verhaal wel leuk.

[Ndimension]

Waarom, waarom kan je altijd meteen zien of een Engelse tekst door een Nederlander is geschreven?

[John Sickbock]

Ndimension schreef op 20-01-2004 @ 20:26:
Waarom, waarom kan je altijd meteen zien of een Engelse tekst door een Nederlander is geschreven?

Misschien omdat je daar goed in bent en blijkbaar elke Nederlander wel nederlands-achtige stijl gebruikt of zoiets. Wat vind je van t verhaal?

PS aan iedereen: Mijn vraag is wat jullie van het verhaal vinden. Natuurlijk mag iedereen ook over engels praten, maar wat ik het meest waardeer zijn reacties op het verhaal.

[.krz]

Ndimension schreef op 20-01-2004 @ 20:26:
Waarom, waarom kan je altijd meteen zien of een Engelse tekst door een Nederlander is geschreven?

Dat vond ik persoonlijk bij dit verhaal heel erg meevallen. Maarja, ik ben natuurlijk ook van oorsprong nederlander. Een engelsman zal het natuurlijk meteen opmerken. En ik vind het ook van minder belang.

[Pyriet]

Ndimension schreef op 20-01-2004 @ 20:26:
Waarom, waarom kan je altijd meteen zien of een Engelse tekst door een Nederlander is geschreven?

Stond een stuk over in t nrc vorig jaar.

( "This might be Dutch" ---> studie )