Bear hug

When I was at university, the physics department was based a stone-throw away from the zoo. Solving complicated equations was often interrupted by the gibbon's shrieks, or the chilling sound of unhappy caged animals. Not too unhappy they must have been, as this bizarre atmosphere was strangely conducive to coupling, and the cutest lion or leopard cubs often were born in captivity to delight our studious, and sometimes bored, afternoons.

Officially because we used the cafe', unofficially because we were probably on the list of weird species threatened by extinction, physics students could wander around the zoo for free, like a modern Epicurean Garden, where quantum mechanics and cybernetics were debated.

As a budding EI, my conversations were often a mixture of heavy ions and the latest relationship disasters, hoping to find some rational answers to the ineffability of the heart.
One day in particular, after the nth emotional mash-up, a friend's hug helped bringing my melodrama into perspective and eased me back into some sense. A bear hug among the polar bears.. Couldn't have been more poignant.

Why bring it up today?
Because some hugs last a long time. Even if they need to take electronic form. If I have learned something in all these years, it is that unlike romance, friendship can survive hardship and separation, and come to your rescue when most needed.

And yet, why are we all suckers for the next love story?