Is That So

Manny was a boy who grew up as a member of a family in the village. Millie was a young girl from the country who had never seen much other than her poor surroundings. Mannie and Millie were about the same age. While they were still young, they met and they fell in love. They came to live near the shores of a gentle river close to the village. Each day, they pushed two boats into the current and they drifted downstream and dropped anchor. There they spent their days together, watching life and learning of love together. Manny always dropped his anchor along the western shore. Millie, for a long time, dropped hers along the eastern. Each day, as they fished and talked, life unfolded around them. Birds of many varieties flew by and landed on the shoreline. Manny and Millie learned to recognize each of the many birds and made friends with them. Fish of all sorts swam under and around them. They splash the water and laughed, not really caring if they caught anything or not.

There came a day when Millie started to grow restless. She watched others in their boats or along the shores and wanted to do what they did. Sometimes she said she wanted to do something new. Manny never objected, never stood in her way. He knew this was her nature. One day she announced that she was going to become a boat maker and off she went to study with the villager carpenter. All Manny said was, "Is that so?"

Manny continued to take his boat out each day as always. Within a couple weeks, Millie was back again. she had decided boat making was not really for her and she really for happy on the river. Life went on. Eventually though, she started to notice that, in the village, there was a cannery, where all the fishermen took their catch each day. One day she said, "I want to work in the cannery." Once again she was off. Again, Manny said, "Is that so?"

As before, after a short period of time, Millie lost interest, and she returned again to Manny's side and life went on as before. This pattern continued. Over and over, Millie would notice a new activity, anew village member, and off she would go. Each time, her announcement was greeted by Manny's "Is that so?" After a few days or a few weeks, her interest in the new person or craft would wane and back she'd come.

Several years had passed and Manny and Millie were becoming adults. One day, Millie came to Manny and told him she was leaving. This time she was not caught up in a new thrill, a new adventure, she just had decided to leave. So she did. For Manny life went on. He got up in the morning. He went out on the river. He communed with his friends in the sky and the ones in the waters and he continued to be what he always was. For Millie, she continued on.

One day, a visitor to the village stopped to talk with Manny. While conversing, he mentioned he had run into Millie. As always, Manny listened to the visitor. When he had finished, Manny replied, "Is that so?"