Only One
By Joshua Scribner
“I know I have already committed, but I just don’t think one person will ever be enough.”
His fiancé’s expression, calm happiness, did not change for a few seconds. Then she threw the invitations and envelopes into the air without touching them.
“How dare you!” she said. “I should hex you, but I can’t because I love you too much!”
A red light oozed from her eyes. She turned from him and bowed her head. “I should be enough.”
“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I think you’re the most beautiful woman in the world. It’s just that I don’t think I’m strong enough. I mean, I’m too young to have sex with the same woman every night.”
Her head came up. She raised her hands to her side. He feared she might turn around and hex him anyway. Transfiguration was her specialty. He could be turned into a frog or a toilet brush any second from now.
What she did stunned him. She had not raised her hands to cast a spell. She had raised her hands to begin a fit of laughter. Seeing it now, he wondered how he hadn’t noticed one of her trademark movements. Then again, his fear had probably distorted his perception.
“I don’t understand,” he said.
She took another few seconds to finish laughing and then said, “That’s all you want, to continue having sex with other women. Heck, I’ll conjure some up for you or place charms on real ones if you choose. You’ll have more sex partners than you ever could without me.”
“But why did you get so upset initially?”
“Well, silly man. When you said you didn’t think one would be enough, I thought you were asking me to clone myself, and that would take away my uniqueness.”
He laughed and hugged her. He had never thought about it before. With her unable to see his face, though, he grimaced, because now he was.
Joshua Scribner is the author of the novels The Coma Lights and Nescata. His fiction won both second and fifth place in the 2008 Whispering Spirits Flash Fiction contest. Up to date information on his work can be found at joshuascribner.com. Joshua currently lives in Michigan with his wife and two daughters. Contact Joshua.
