"Can it dance?" she asked me with sparkling eyes. She always had sparkling eyes. I used to think that if she was ever lost out late at night she wouldn't need a light because she could see simply because of the brightness of her eyes. I never considered what it could be that caused that unnatural glowing. I never thought about what made her so different; I had never seen anyone else with eyes like that.

I had never taken the time to stare deep into a mirror and wonder what mysteries were hidden within my soul. I had never found myself interesting until this very moment and I cursed myself for not taking the time to consider the questions about myself that have always tried achingly to answer about other people. I felt suddenly naked and exposed. I knew more about her than I did about myself, yet there was no choice but to press on.

Yet I was distracted by the world around me. I felt the wind playfully tossing my hair, as if it was playing some game I couldn't hope to understand. Each individual hair on my head seemed independent of the others and I thought I could feel the movement of every strand. I saw the trees swaying, their green leaves similarly tossed like my hair and I found myself wondering the name of the game and what the score was.

The sun beat down upon me and her and the pavement around us, casting a pair of shadows that were so close that they were almost one. Almost.

I believe she was getting impatient because a blunt "Well?" came crashing into my meditation, sending it to the four corners of the earth.

I blinked once, twice, as if coming from a deep sleep and freshly aware of her presence in front of me. I looked again into her sparkling eyes and I noticed for the first time this little flame hidden halfway back. I saw one in each eye but I knew it was the same flame, as if I was looking though a split window.

Suddenly realization flooded me and I knew everything she'd ever seen, everything she'd ever known had been experienced though that little flame that fueled the sparkle in her eyes. Its inconsistency was a defining aspect of her existence. Nothing was solid to her. Everything was as surreal as trying to focus on a single ripple made by a rock crashing thought the surface of a body of water.

"No," I told her simply.

As I watched that little flame in her soul jump and flare I knew she wanted more and I finally understood her question and why it was so important to her. I could lie now, more certainly than I had ever before and she would believe me more assuredly than she had ever believed anything in her life. Like sand spilling forth from splayed fingers I could let the words just tumble away and be caught up in the cyclone that was her. The particles would be close, but chaotic and completely unrecognizable.

A lie did not spill fourth from me. I couldn't have lied even if I had wanted to. There would have been something ill fitting about a lie. "No, it cannot dance. It's love, the love I have for you and that's all it is. Love isn't like that. It isn't that tangible. It simply is. It does not dance, it only loves."

Her face leaned forward and I saw our shadows blend into an indistinguishable mix, a silent tribute to the absence of light. On some level we were one. That little flame in her eyes was thrashing around like a madman incensed. I could see it trying to grow larger and consume everything in its blaze. Her eyes sparkled at me, dancing like a star and she seemed just about to reveal all of the secrets of the universe without saying a word when a soft sound escaped her lips. "Oh," she sighed.

Now it was her turn to blink and she looked around lazily. It gave me a moment to glance at the trees. While looking at their leaves I could tell that a point had been scored somewhere and the momentum was changing. I concentrated on my hair and realized that I was no longer part of the contest.

It struck me that when she had opened her eyes before she turned away that I couldn't see that little flame in her eyes. I have never seen it before because it was only visible to those that it burned for. For a few brief moments she had a flame burning for me. I felt honored and a little embarrassed.

I didn't have to look down to know she was gone, but this didn't stop me from glancing to where she had been standing. My shadow now stood alone as a reminder of a moment before when it was almost twice its size. She had mumbled something under her breath about seeing me later or never seeing me again.

My breath moved in and out of my lungs in a slow rhythmic way that made me comfortable. I focused on that for a long time, not altering it in anyway, simply taking comfort. Thoughts of her filled my mind.

A leaf caught my eye. It had been blown down from its tree recently and taken up again as the wind picked up. It tumbled over the grass towards me. Right before it reached my feet it leapt into the air to dance around me. It spun around my head and through my legs. I felt like it was celebrating a victory, and wanted to think me for my part.

After it felt that I had been thanked properly it simply danced. It danced with me until it realized that I couldn't even hear the music. It danced with the grass and the leaves and the sky. That leaf, removed from the tree, would die soon, perhaps it was already dead.

I watched it dance until it was out of sight. I remembered her question and it's importance. Love can dance, I suppose, just not the love I had for her.