Love Poetry

It was a fair, sunny morning when Numbuh 1 reviewed the day's mail. As he lifted up the small stack, a small, lined piece of paper that was folded into quarters slipped out and dropped onto the table. The words "to Nigey" were written on it. Numbuh 1 was pretty sure he knew who it was from.

He put down the mail he had just picked up and unfolded the letter. Written inside was...

To Nigel Uno

I lie awake because I cannot sleep.
I wish that you were here to hold my hand.
My love for you is very true and deep.
This yearning ache I hope you understand.
I hope that you do feel the same as me,
on cloudy starless nights when all is mute,
when ears hear nothing and your eyes can't see,
and then I hear the sound of your brown boot.
I turn but there is nothing all around.
I realize it was nothing but a dream.
It is too dark to see and not a sound
except the beating of my heart it seems.
Alas this feeling is oft called amour.
I want to be with you, whom I adore.

~Lizzie --[A/N: ...McGuire! Hehe, j/k]

P.S. Tomorrow's Valentine's Day. Well, by the time you read this, it will be today.

"Interesting..." commented a voice behind him.

"Ack!!" Numbuh 1 yelled, dropping the note in his surprise.

Numbuh 2 bent to pick it up. "I didn't know that Lizzie could write poetry."

"Well, er... she--"

Numbuh 1 couldn't finish his sentence before Numbuh 3 entered the room, followed by Numbuh 5. Before Numbuh 1 could protest or snatch his letter back, the two girls were reading over Numbuh 2's shoulders and analyzing the poem for quality.

"Ooh, that's cute!" Numbuh 3 said.

"Pretty good. The choice of words ain't too bad," Numbuh 5 said. "But hm... that first line coulda been better."

Numbuh 1 attempted to grab his letter back. This time he wouldn't wait until the last member of the Kids Next Door walked into the room. He couldn't prevent three people from telling Numbuh 4 about the letter, but he could at least stop people from reading his personal mail. Before he could take the letter back from Numbuh 2, who passed it to Numbuh 3, who dodged Numbuh 1 and handed it off to Numbuh 5, who tossed it back to Numbuh 2, the last member of the Kids Next Door walked into the room.

"Look, Numbuh 1's got a looove letter," Numbuh 2 said immediately when Numbuh 4 entered.

Numbuh 4 read the letter quickly. "Eh..." he said after he finished, "Are you sure Lizzie wrote this? I didn't know she could write poetry."

"Yeah, that's what I said. Well, Numbuh 1, what do you think?"

"Me? Oh, I don't know." The room was quite for a while, until Numbuh 5 spoke.

"Well?" she asked expectantly.

"Well what? I already said I don't know!"

"Numbuh 1, you know what Numbuh 5 is talking about. She means: aren't you going to reply to the letter?" Numbuh 3 said.

Numbuh 1, who actually had no idea what Numbuh 5 had meant when she asked, "Well?" merely replied, "Reply to the letter?"

"Okay, Numbuh 1, when someone gives you a love letter, you should always reply with another one," Numbuh 5 explained. "Especially since it's Valentine's Day, and all."

"Unless you don't like the person," Numbuh 4 added. "Then you 'ave to write a polite refusal."

Numbuh 1 looked at the other members dubiously. "Well, if you say so. I'll go write a reply right now. May I borrow the L.U.N.C.H.B.O.C.K.S., Numbuh 2?"

Numbuh 2 took out the L.U.N.C.H.B.O.C.K.S. and handed it to Numbuh 1, who then went off to find some paper and a pencil. Numbuh 5 watched Numbuh 1 exit the room and then glanced down at the L.U.N.C.H.B.O.C.K.S. "I have a bad feeling about this."

After fifteen minutes of Numbuh 1 typing and writing passed, Numbuh 1 held up his paper triumphantly. "All right, I finished," he declared.

Numbuhs 2-5 read the very short poem.

Love's
Instantaneous
Zealous
Zap
Incapacitates
Everyone

Numbuh 5 was the first to speak. "I knew something like this would happen."

As Numbuh 5 sighed, clearly exasperated, Numbuh 2 commented, "Sorry to say this, Numbuh 1, but uh... that's a pretty bad poem."

"Well, the two z's were hard to work with," Numbuh 1 said defensively.

"We understand that, but you didn't have to do an acrostic poem," Numbuh 5 said.

"Yeah. Are you writing poetry or naming a mission?" Numbuh 3 added.

"I just couldn't understand--is this poem supposed to be like, 'Yes, I like you too' or 'Oh, I feel sorry that you have insomnia because you like me'?" was Numbuh 4's comment.

"Er..." Numbuh 1 said, blushing and looking humbled by the criticism, "Both, I guess."

Numbuh 3 crossed her arms. "Numbuh 1, write it over. Make it longer." The others supported Numbuh 3, saying that a six-word poem was a little bit too short.

"And," Numbuh 2 added, "the poem should rhyme." The others agreed with this too.

"And you should have a point to the poem, ya know?" Numbuh 4 said. The others also agreed with this.

Numbuh 1 stood there for a second, not saying anything, but clenching his hand into a fist. Finally, he burst out, "IS THAT ALL??? Are you finished now?! First you guys read through my personal mail, then you convince me to write a love letter, and now you criticize my poetry!! Look, I--" He stopped in order to find the right words. "I'm not good at these things." Numbuh 1 seemed like he was going to say something else, but only stomped out of the room angrily.

"Really," he thought, "they expect me to write love poetry?" It was strange how they were surprised at Lizzie's romantic letter, but expected him, Numbuh 1, to do the same! Not to mention, they expected him to write down his personal feelings and let them read them. Even if he could do that, he would not--ever. He went into his room and flopped down onto his trampoline bed. He lay there for a while with bad attempts at poetry running through his mind. He wanted to give up the whole idea except that Lizzie would probably nag him about it for months.

Numbuh 1 decided that he would go back to the dining room and try again with a pencil in his hands, and hopefully have better luck that way. When he reached the room he was surprised to find that everyone had gone away and instead, there were several new items on the table: a pink carnation, a clear bag filled with wrapped chocolates and tied with a red ribbon, and a card that was blank but had pretty designs drawn on its edges. Looking around for some sort of explanation, Numbuh 1 found that the piece of paper he had written his short poem on now had a lot more writing...

(In Numbuh 4's handwriting) Special Valentine's Day Offer:
In order to make your Valentine's Day less stressful for you, we have provided the following items--

(In Numbuh 5's handwriting) One (1) bag of twenty (20) wrapped dark chocolates

(In Numbuh 2's handwriting) One (1) carnation, pink

(In Numbuh 3's handwriting) One (1) blank card for writing a poem in

(In Numbuh 4's handwriting) In exchange for these items, we request that you do the following--

1) Write a poem in the blank card to Lizzie
2) Personally deliver the carnation, pieces of chocolate, and the card to Lizzie
3) Do all the laundry and dishes for the next week

The contents of this poem DOES NOT need to (and preferably, SHOULD NOT) be disclosed with any other member(s) of the Kids Next Door, or any other persons other than the receiving party. And as another note: If you really run out of ideas for a poem, a clever rendition of the classic "roses are red, violets are blue" will usually work.

Numbuh 1 felt like smiling at the note's formality, but now he felt even more guilty. Not only had the other members of the Kids Next Door stepped back apologetically, but they had also--really--made his Valentine's Day much less stressful at the cost of their own time and effort. And all because he was so bad at writing poetry! Not to mention, they wanted him to give Lizzie a gift that wasn't his. He searched around the treehouse for a while trying to find one of the others to tell them that he couldn't accept their favor, but he couldn't find anybody.

Finally, he sat down at the table and tried to write a poem, guilt gnawing at his stomach. After writing four lines on the sheet of paper, he neatly copied it onto the card and gathered up the card, flower, and chocolates. He exited the dining room and then the treehouse.

Lizzie was busy playing with a doll that looked suspiciously like Numbuh 1 when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" she called.

Lizzie ran to the door and opened it. "Oh! Nigey!" Numbuh 1 stood in the doorway looking very red and holding several items in his hands.

He gave her the bag of chocolates, the flower, and lastly, the card and managed to say, "Well, Lizzie... uh... Happy Valentine's Day."

"Oh, thank you!" She opened the card and read the poem inside.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I can't write poetry
But I like you too

"Oh, that's so CUTE!!" Lizzie squealed.

Numbuh 1 blushed, looked down at his shoes, and muttered, "Yours is a lot better."

"Well," Lizzie said, smiling proudly, "my mom and dad helped me with it. Aren't they the neatest?"

Numbuh 1 looked up at Lizzie's proud expression. Suddenly he realized something. Lizzie wasn't ashamed at all that she had received help. Before he missed the opportunity, Numbuh 1 blurted, "The others--they helped me--you know--with the flower and the chocolates and the poem."

Lizzie smiled and Numbuh 1 knew that she understood what he meant and what he had just realized--Valentine's Day wasn't only about giving things to your boyfriend or your girlfriend, but also going out of your way to help a friend or a family member.

"Thanks, guys," Numbuh 1 thought, "for the perfect Valentine's Day."

~* FIN *~

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