by Milton Johanides

Created on: November 23, 2011   Last Updated: November 25, 2011

Yet again he had fallen prey to passion. Once more he felt the agony of his soul overwhelmed by love. He danced and skipped through the streets, convincing himself that love had never been like this before. Everything that had gone before, he told himself, paled in significance. This was different. This was the real thing. He had grown up since his last infatuation. Now he was a man. As he darted between and through the barricade of pedestrians, nothing could convince him that this was anything other than true love. Springsteen played on his iPod, his heart burned, and a thick soft blanket of love draped itself over his head.

“You´ve been like this before son,” his father told him, when he arrived home in a bubble of excitement.

“I know, but this is different!”

“And it´s always landed you in a mess.”

“When are you going to bring her home?” asked his mother.

“When she´s ready,” he replied, suddenly doubtful.

Tony was the third son of the famous surgeon Dr Walter Caine. His two brothers had both already graduated from medical school and were busy making their own reputations, eager to earn the same respect in the community that their father enjoyed. Dr Caine saw no reason why Tony would not also one day follow in their straight and rigorous footsteps. But Tony´s mother, more insightful than her husband, had her own doubts. She realized early on that Tony was far too impressionable, wayward, lacking direction and self-discipline. Privately he would confess to his mother that he had no interest in becoming a doctor, and the thought struck terror in her heart, for she knew what that would do to the stability of their perfect family structure.

“I´m sure I love her, dad,” he said again on another occasion when Dr Caine brought up the matter.

“What do her family do?”

Tony remained silent. He had no idea. All he knew was that he thought of nothing else but her.

Of course he did not know about the other man in her life. He remained hidden until Tony finally got a chance to get to know the girl better. They were on a park bench, ready to smooch, when Tony noticed a shadowy figure moving about in the bushes. He thought nothing of it, but on the way home he was sure they were being followed. It was not until Tony went back to the girl´s flat later that evening that he saw him. He was a little guy with a mean face. He wore a cowboy hat, a red kerchief around

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