The single possible trick to marriage – A short story

The snap-

The Tale-


She still remembered the way in which her parents treated her when she asked them about it for the first time, of course she must have been about 13 years old when she asked it but still even such a 13 year old kid is entitled to get a few decent answers especially when the subject in question is as controversial and as simple such as sex. Thinking back, she wondered why her parents didn’t seem to trust her enough to reveal whatever they thought that sex was. At least they could have spared her of their misleading ideas of babies falling from the sky in brown baskets. Funny how much parents can be creative when they don’t want to answer straight to their kids? May be, she thought that she deserved a few straight answers, so it was then that she made up her mind, when the moment comes she would at least try to be honest with her own kid in the future.


And it hit her when she least expected it.

“Mom, today in school they taught us about sex”

She was totally exhausted from the day’s chores and would have crashed into her bed in a few seconds but the word sex seems to have something about it that whenever it’s talked about particularly by your own kid, the last thing that people want to do is to go to sleep.

“hmhm So what did you learn?” she asked with caution in her voice.

The moon light from the window lit the room and with it the soft features of her little girl. Even in the dark, her tiny eyes glowed with life and curiosity.

“I learnt how babies are made” and the little girl paused. A pause by a practical definition can convey a lot in its nuances and this pause must have been to give time for the mother to brace herself for the oncoming assault as the little one’s next question caught her completely off guard.

“Did you and papa do sex to make me?”

Waffled and baffled would have been the right expression to account for the expression that sprang up on the mother’s face. She must have forgotten that she always wanted to sound direct and crisp in her answers to her daughter, she hesitated a lot more than a bit before she answered “Well, hmmhmm……..yes” she said.

She never knew why she said it. It must have been some motherly instinct wanting her child not to get the wrong idea about anything. “People marry, do sex, have babies, that life sweetie” she said in the most reassuring voice she could muster.

“But teacher said all people who have puberty can do sex.”


That statement was more of a question than any normal question with a question mark hanging at its end. The little girl’s mother was at her wit’s end. How can anyone answer that with out raising any further questions or with out hurting her child in any way? After all she was a kid. How was she to explain to her about sex, hormones and puberty are more than just words, they are a part of life and marriage is not only just about sex, its more than that. How is she to put the complexities of life in understanding words to her kid? She seemed so completely lost. She must have worried too much about too many things; the little girl was already sleeping peacefully when she came back from the wanderings of her mind.




With thoughts about life, marriage, sex and such drifting through her head, she got to the bed. Her daughter’s curiosity has roused her own questioning mind. “How much of a driving force is sex in a marriage” “If fidelity is such a big issue in marriage, doesn’t the entire tradition of marriage seem to rest upon the aspect of whom the we have sex with”

“Hard day huh??” Asked her husband as he turned his eyes from the bedside novel he was reading and looked at her with an empathetic glance.

She nodded her head and sat down on the bed, her mind still lost in her thoughts. Her husband just sat there looking at her face. Looking at a girl’s face while she is lost in her own thoughts is exquisite. Ask a guy in love and he will write you sonnets about it. And the crescendo to that spectacular orchestra of the lady’s face is at the moment when she realizes that you are looking at her and blushes. And it was after such performance of fantabulous proportions that her husband questioned her about what was bugging her mind.



With a deep breath, she lay down by his side and turned to face him.

“Today your daughter asked me about sex”

He grinned wildly. “So she asked you……..”

“What?? Why are you giving me that silly smile of yours?” she nudged him.

Still grinning he said “She asked me first and”

“And you were so clueless on what to answer so you told her to ask me instead. Is that it?”

“Not quite. When she asked about sex, love and marriage the only thing came to my mind was you” he paused as if to gather his thoughts and then said “I simply didn't know what else to think”

She found herself holding his warm and reassuring hands. He needn't explain anything anymore. She loved him to death. No questions. After all fidelity, sex and whatever other possible marital issues maybe, they arise in a marriage when people with age lose their passion for each other. So perhaps there can be only one possible trick to marriage “Be passionately in love with your spouse and for better or worse stay that way forever”