love birds

Once upon a time, long, long, ago, in a land far, far, away, there was a young girl with hair brown like dark maple syrup, her face sunshine, and her smile cheer itself. It was her favourite thing in the world, to ask her friend "Do you know why love birds, are called love birds?"

Now, her friend knew the answer, only because she had been told the answer a million times, but it would have taken a heart of stone to say yes, so she would say "No, why?"

With the smile of the wise, the girl would say, "Because if one dies, the other dies too."

It would make her friend's heart stop every single time, and they would together look up to the heavens, with eyes that dream, and hearts that wait, and think, of a love that would soon come out of no where and sweep them off their feet.

And then, they would turn to each other, shake their heads, laugh out loud and say "Yeah! Right!"

A long time has passed since then, the girls are women, love came like a tornado and took them to far away places, and as they go through the grind of their daily lives, her friend wonders why no one has asked in so many years, if she knew, "Why love birds are called love birds?" Even though she knows the answer, and even though she does not think about love, the way she used to back then, even though a lot has changed, she thinks, she would love to say "No. Why? "