A Blink of an Eye

A Blink of an Eye

Elise heard the lunch trays clattering down the hall on the food cart. She wasn’t looking forward to the institutional mush that passed for a meal at The Pines Care Center.

Had she really been here five years since George died? She remembered coming home from Grocery shopping to find her husband dead on the living room floor. She immediately called 911 hoping there was a slim chance he would still be alive. But when the medics arrived they told Elise,We’re sorry, Mrs Collins, but your husband is dead.”

Elise sank to the carpet in shock. Then the wracking tears came,  until she could cry no more.

That had happened five years ago, but her grief at the loss of her soulmate of 57 years had never abated.

Sabrina, her gentle care nurse delivered her lunch tray, saying the same thing each day. Mrs Collins, I know this will never match your home cooking, but please try to eat. You are too thin, and we need to build your strength up.”

“ Thank you, Sabrina, I will do my best,”

But Elise took a few bites if the watery mashed potatoes, ground meat on undeterminable kind, and overcooked string beans. She pushed the bland food around her plate and after drinking the weak tea, she pushed the food away.

Elise remembered biting  into soft homemade bread with butter and homemade Jan, she remembered the fresh red tomatoes from their family garden. She remembered George driving the tractor filled with hay bales, and Emma and Steven sitting on the back of the tractor, swinging their feet smiling in delight.

She rose from her chair reached for her cane, and struggled to stand. In front of her was the mirror in top of the dresser. She rarely looked at it, knowing the reflection staring back at her would be that if a wizened wrinkly old lady. Yet, each time she did catch a glimpse of herself she hoped to see the face of a young girl with long chestnut hair and bright sapphire eyes. She knew George would be there and time would not run out this time.

This day, as she looked, not believing that there would be a change in everyday reality, she noticed the girl with chestnut hair. without a thought she touched the mirror and heard a loud roaring, as she tumbled through a tunnel landing in a hay field. This is our hay field, she said to herself. And in the distance she heard the sound of Georges's tractor coming toward her. The kids were not riding it, so she knew it was before they were born.

She ran through the Hatfield to her George, her only love, and climbed up onto the tractor and threw her arms around him.

George looked up, surprised. “ to what do I get such a warm welcome, dear Elise? “

I just traveled through time from 2023 to 1960 and found you after all these years,”

George shook his head and said with a grin,”Oh, dear Elise, I have always loved your wonderful imagination!”

“ No, George, I came from the year 2023, I was in a nursing home and you had died five years before that. Emma and Steven moved across the country and rarely came to visit. They had their own lives, busy with work and their children.” The loneliness was stifling. Everyone there was old and sick. Some had lost their memory, and wandered through the halls at night.” Ever day, as I looked in the mirror in my dresser, I saw an old lady, wrinkled and wizened, with wisps of white hair. All my friends were dead there was little to do but watch television. I could no longer read, due to failing eyesight. My one pleasure was playing the piano in the activity room when there wasn’t something going on. I would play for hours, both classical and special songs that were “ our songs”

Then, today, I looked in that mirror and saw myself young again. I wasn’t going to waste a minute because time was running out. So I touched the mirror and tumble through time, landing in our hay field!”

 George, take me to bed. It’s been so long “

“ It’s only been since yesterday but I will be happy to oblige.”

Afterward, they lay in each other’s arms, cuddled and happy. It had never been this intense before. There was both an urgency and tenderness in their lovemaking.

Elise fixed George his favorite dinner, fresh salad from the garden, grilled chicken breasts, and freshly baked bread.

As they sat down to dinner Elise thanked God for the wonderful gift of more time with George.

Time did not disappoint them. They had a second chance on their life together. 

In six weeks Elise discovered she was pregnant. 

Steven was born with his father’s blond hair and blue eyes. He was a happy baby and loved being cuddle in Elise’s area when he fed at her breast. As a toddler, he was into everything, especially how light switches and doorknobs worked.

“ Read me a story, Mommy,”, little Steven said. He talked early, his vocabulary increasing by at least ten words each day. “ Das is”, Steven would ask, looking up at Elise. “ sky” Elise would reply “ Sky” the little boy would repeat, pointing. “ Up high”.

George would strap him safely into the sear next to him, as he drove the tractor. He was fascinated with the large wheels and the gear shift. Sometimes George would guide his little hand to switch gears. Steven’s bright eyes would dance with delight. 

“ You are going to be a gear head someday, son, George quipped.

Two years later Elise was pregnant again. She had more trouble with her pregnancy this time around, and George sped through red lights with a police escort when Elise went into labor six weeks early.

But after a month's stay in the hospital Emma came home. Elise was turned all the time because Elise was a fussy baby. But George helped walk the floor every night for three months until the colic finally stopped

Elise and George raised their children with love and guidance They had to do routine chores because farm work required many hands to make light work.

Emma would gather the eggs each morning and Steven would help his dad with the hay baling

 Else and George settled in with a happy life, despite the challenges that life for everyone faces. But they didn't realize that their time was running out.

One rainy day George turned in his. Bed to wish his wife good morning. 

She was gone.