"Associative Looseness"

Yolanda was in her mother's kitchen playfully picking on all the dishes on the
table.

"Stop that! You're gonna spoil the food", her mother shouted at her.

"Tastes good, ma. You're cooking never changed", she replied and got up from her
chair and gave her mother a warm hug.

"How about you? Have you changed?"

"Whatever do you mean by that, ma?"

"Are you still seeing him?"

Yolanda let go of her mother and slumped back into her chair. She continued
fishing out the good parts of the food with her finger, while her mother waits
impatiently for an answer.

"Yolanda, how old are you now? that's no longer normal. You should know that."

Yolanda just continued picking on the food.

"I've explained this to you a million times already. You're a grown woman now,
you're getting married for goodness sake!", her mother was sounding frustrated.

Then she let out a deep sigh and with a gentle voice, she said, "Yolly, I'm sorry.
I know this is all my fault. Had I been there to guide you properly when you were
young...this, this could never have happened...this, this could never have lasted
this long."

Yolanda was just silent.

"What would happen if Damien finds out? Good gracious, that would be embarassing!", her mother continued.

"He would think that you have a loose screw inside your head."

Yolanda replied, "He loves me."

Her mother was not surprised by that, "I know, that's probably the only reason why he's marrying you."

Silence.

"Not him, Castro loves me", she silently told herself.


(to be cont..