Calligraphy

By Denise Diehl

‘It’s art,’ said Language as she looped ahead of her classmate, Grammar.

‘Slow down; you need me,’ he replied.

‘No, I don’t. I’m self-sufficient. Look at my great style and balanced curves. I’m organised, and my script flows. It’s a work of love, evident in my strokes, loops and curls. I don’t need anyone else,’ she said in cursive, dismissing Grammar with a wave of her hand.

He stared at her beautiful form with serious eyes, taking in her delicate hands. She had soft edges in all the right places, yet her design showed boldness and spirit. What’s not to love, he mused. Still, he must persuade her if she wants to be competition-worthy. She wrote without rules or structure. The fundamentals were missing from the script. He tensed, not in agreement with her; she needed guidelines.

However, she heeded him not, but he jumped in anyway, interjecting, correcting her typos, and rearranging her words in a syntactic manoeuvre. She pursed her lips and nodded, allowing him. He capitalised on her approval.

He eyed her, loving her in that moment as she flowed with him across the page, and for a brief time, the blank paper filled with their story.

They made lines together.

‘Yes, it is art.’ He smiled at her, lingering in the beauty of their calligraphy.

‘We had fun, but don’t mistake it for love,’ she said, her voice cold.

His face fell, and his pen dropped to the floor, where it cracked open, spilling ink—he watched, stricken, as his lifeblood of linguistics drained away.

She had written him off, just like that, with a flick of her hand, turning the page on him.

💕💕💕💕💕

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Denise Diehl spent over forty years working in Laboratory Science. After retiring with her husband to a small town in New Zealand, she wrote her first novels and short stories—a fun new adventure to match the latest decade of her life. Her writing leans toward the speculative and weird. Think Twilight Zone. Several short stories have been published in various magazines, including Frivolous Comma, Promised Protagonists, Starspun Lit and 101 Words.

Instagram: diehl7276