Young at Heart

It was 9pm on a Thursday.

It was 9pm on a Thursday at Living Waters Lutheran Retirement Home. The squeaks of an expectant wheelchair were the only sounds heard through the quiet halls. That and the beeps of incessant medical machines. And the far-off nurses' chatter.

The Greeting Room was dark and safe-feeling. The Cafeteria had closed and only a few pans were heard being cleaned in the kitchen, where a dim light was cast. Anthony wheeled himself up to the window and checked the parking lot.

Yes he thought They're here.

With that, he wheeled himself to the elevator and began entering the code to unlock it. Yes, even the elevators were locked. For 'safety purposes' Anthony recalled. Luckily enough, the dumb Christian kids that came each Sunday to wheel the residents down to Church services blurted out the code like it was nothing. Nothing Anthony thought Nothing but my own freedom.

The doors opened with a ding! and a click. He chuckled to himself with how easy this all was. He began to roll himself forward when he heard a voice.

"Hey!"

A wide-eyed old woman wheeled herself into him.

For goodness sake, why did it have to be Doris?

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Hi Doris," Anthony said gruffly. "Shouldn't you be on house arrest after stealing the margarine from Judith's lunch yesterday?"

"I was falsely accused," she said proudly. "Besides, it's not important."

The doors began to shut. Doris whipped out her cane to stop them.

In a stern whisper she muttered,

"Anthony, are you trying to leave?"

"Of course not, y'old bat! Where would I go?"

"Then what are you doing? Especially at this time of night."

"This time of night- it's 9 o'clock. The night is young."

With that he stamped his foot on her cane and the doors shut abruptly.

"Anthony!"

She grabbed the side of the elevator with her bare hand.

"Take me with you."

It was 9:12 on a Thursday.

It was 9:12 on a Thursday at Living Waters Lutheran Retirement Home. The engine shut off and Pete looked over at his passenger seat. The sight of her made him smile.

"Your glasses are smudgy, again."

Rolling his eyes, he took them off and placed them on his dashboard.

"Does that upset you?" he said with a sly-looking grin.

Coming closer to Maggie, he could see the sparkle in her eye. It was almost too real to be cliche. He never understood that 'it-factor' some people had- how they were just magnetically beautiful. He believed Maggie had this beauty, although she'd never admit it. Countless times he'd told her, each time she'd refuse the compliment.

"Does it upset me?" she replied, inching closer to him. She smiled. How was it that anything he said made her want to kiss him? She reached forward to kiss him and doing so, took his glasses off the dash and began to clean them with her shirt sleeve.

Pete laughed and gently took them from her, engulfing her in a kiss. This was how Thursdays went for them. It was the only day that worked. Since graduation, Maggie had gotten a job teaching at her childhood elementary school. The work was overwhelming and the students took all her energy. Pete was still earning his degree at the college where they first met, about half an hour away. On the weekends, he worked nights at the local liquor store. Their schedules never seemed to coordinate. So Thursday, when the work week was almost coming to an end for Maggie, and before Pete had to start his weekend shifts, was the day.

"I have something for you," Pete said, gesturing to the glove box.

She opened the glove box and out popped a letter.

"It's not much."

It was much. When Pete wrote a letter, it meant something. He was an old soul like that. Maggie still remembered when she received her first letter from him. It was about a month after they began dating. They were both away on Winter break and the distance made it feel as if their relationship were nonexistent. Or at least awkward and clunky. What was this, anyway?

But now, an entire year later, so much growth had happened. They were two transformed people and yet still so much in love.

It was 9:29 on a Thursday.

It was 9:29 on a Thursday at Living Waters Lutheran Retirement Home. Sitting under the awning, Anthony watched the little car like a spy.

"I cannot believe you," Doris reprimanded. "You Peeping Tom!"

"I'm no Peeping Tom. This is a natural occurrence. I'm just observing."

"Observing, ha" she said disgustingly. "Perv."

"Shh..."

Doris was astounded. Here, she had come to develop a little crush on Anthony. He had his wits about him, still a full head of hair, and she was pretty sure he was 2 years younger than her. What was there not to like. But now- now she wasn't so sure. Watching a couple of kids make out in the back parking lot of their building? How wrong was that? How wrong was that?

She looked at Anthony. He was fixated on the couple. It was strange, yet romantic. What was he looking for?

After a moment, she spoke up,

"The girl is quite lovely."

Anthony barely smiled, but his eyes softened.

"She probably doesn't even know it," he whispered.

Doris laughed. Anthony oddly didn't seem to mind her company.

More Thursdays passed and the two parallel couples continued to occupy the hour by the glow of a romantic street lamp. One night, Doris reached over and took Anthony's hand. He let her.

"I can't explain why this makes me feel so..." he whispered gently.

"Special?" she prompted.

"Yeah."

"It's like I'm reliving a memory," Anthony told Doris.

"I just never want to think of us growing old," Maggie said through tears.

"But maybe it's not a memory at all," Anthony added wistfully.

"We'll never grow old," Pete said before hugging her tight to his chest.

There was one Thursday at 9pm where the young couple did not come. Doris watched as an eager Anthony slowly crumpled. He wheeled himself back inside so quickly, she could barely keep up. In a half-lit hallway, she called after him but he didn't stop.

The next week, the car returned but not happily. In the chilly November air, Doris and Anthony could hear through their wool hats as the couple had a very vocal disagreement. Again, Doris reached out for his hand. A chill went through both of them.

"That's not what I'm saying," Pete said sternly, attempting to be calm.

"But you are. You don't think I spend enough time with you."

"I don't think you WANT to spend time with me!"

"Why would I not want to spend time with you?"

"You just..."

Pete's voice trailed off.

"You don't think for yourself anymore, Maggie."

A great barrier of silence emerged.

"Pete," she said without any feeling. "I've said before how you just don't get it. And you still don't. How am I even allowed to think for myself when all I'm doing is thinking of everyone around me. I can barely breathe and you're asking me for more air."

She quickly added, "Take me home, please."

When the car pulled out of the parking lot at half past 9, Anthony felt as if it were over. He looked at Doris and said,

"Let's go."

They rolled along into the Lobby, up the elevator, and back to the Greeting Room.

"Anthony-" Doris said before they parted at the hallway. "Can I ask you something?"

"I guess it can't hurt," he said, looking at her glassy eyes in the darkened room.

"Why are we doing this?"

He turned away from her and wheeled himself up to the window overlooking the parking lot. Doris heard a low sigh bellow from somewhere deep inside him.

"It's all I have left, Doris."

Her wheels squeaked as she wheeled up next to him.

"Come on now, you know that's not true."

She took him by the hand and whispered, "You have me."

His head turned so quickly, his heart seemed to race into his eyes where unexpected tears lingered.

"What?" he said breathlessly.

"I think I love you, Anthony."

On one summer evening, a car pulled into the back parking lot at Living Waters Retirement Home. Two people step out and find a bench under a tall oak tree. They sit at a small distance from each other and keep their eyes fixed on their shoes.

Doris and Anthony were out for their typical evening stroll (or roll?) when they spotted the familiar car. It had been a long time.

"So," Maggie started. "How are you?"

"Well," Pete said sadly. "I'm doing well. I graduated in the Spring and I started my job already. It keeps me... busy."

He didn't exactly sound happy by any of that.

"It's them," Doris said with a surprised joy in her quivering voice.

Anthony didn't seem so sure.

"Darling, we have to-"

"No."

"I just never understood why you left."

"Maybe that was part of the problem."

"You never listened."

"You didn't understand!"

"Darling, we have to-"

"I don't even know why I asked you to come back here..."

"I don't know why I came..."

"Excuse me-"

A frail voice cut through the thick air.

Anthony rolled up to the bench slowly. He was a ball of nerves. These people he knew so well were, in all actuality, total strangers.

What would he even say? He ran through combinations of words in his head. I couldn't help but overhear... I think you're really a beautiful couple.. You love each other, remember? Nothing seemed to fit.

When he finally reached the bench, Pete turned to face him and Anthony lost his breath.

"Yes?" he asked.

Anthony was speechless.

"Can I help you?" Pete insisted.

Doris rolled up behind Anthony and noticed his shock. As she reached down to put the breaks on her chair, Maggie came over to the small crowd. Looking up, Doris thought she was going insane.

Both couples were looking at themselves, years older and years younger. Of course, Pete and Maggie did not recognize their older selves. They could not see past their present to see their future.

It was 9pm on a Thursday.

It was 9pm on a Thursday at Living Waters Lutheran Retirement Home. Anthony sat in his chair, staring out the window at nothing. He had sat there for two hours already. He didn't hear the nurses as they wheeled him back to his room, changed him into his pajamas, and helped him into bed. He continued to stare and think of the story in his head. Before leaving, his nurse, Maggie gave him a letter from his grandson, Pete and told him that Doris had called.

"Anthony," she repeated louder. "Did you hear what I said? I said Doris called."

Snapping out of his daze as if a gear had reset itself into place, he muttered, "Who's Doris?"

"Your wife."

But the memory was already completely gone. Lost, but not forever.

Because tomorrow when Maggie would wheel him to the window in the Greeting Room, he would dream of the car again and the woman holding his hand. And maybe this time, she'd really be there.