Lifelong

He fell in love with his dissertation. The foreplay that led to its conception remained titillating as he crafted five chapters over a period of other people's children growing beards, war breaking out, and germs. Germs everywhere. He had never met a woman so exotic, never met a man so dignified, never found a peer until this dissertation. When at last it met its black jacket with gold lettering, he wanted a ceremony of their own. At various points of the day, he found himself touching it, holding it to himself, and speaking soft words into its pages. He began to hear it whisper back and stroke his mind, his infatuated heart, his very skin, a leather not unlike his own.