The Road Trip

The month of April had finally allowed spring to show her true colors. Winter had been cold, snowy, and much too long. Roy and Kelly were yearning for light breezes, and road trips with the top down on the convertible; but for today they were beginning with a short trip to their favorite lake. Roy climbed into the car, slapped his very worn hat onto his head, and then hit the button to lower the top. Kelly climbed in beside him, and he chuckled.

”Hey! What’s that all about?”

“That backpack doesn’t much look like a tackle box.”

“You’re fishing .... I’m writing, or at least I’m going to attempt to write something.” Kelly said, but she didn’t sound very hopeful.

Roy looked at her, and put his hand on her shoulder.

“Look, Beautiful! Today is about welcoming spring, and enjoying our convertible. I fish, and you write .... We’ll compare accomplishments at the end of the day.”

The drive was beautiful! The breeze was perfect, and the newness of spring blooms on the trees was almost as great as autumn colors. Kelly claimed a picnic table, and Roy headed to the edge of the lake. He dropped his usual 2 lines, put his 48 ounce glass of soda in the grass next to them, and sat down with his ever-present book. The day was peaceful and restful, but Roy ended with no fish, and Kelly had a few disconnected paragraphs. Kelly looked up just in time to see Roy pulling his poles from the water. She watched as he stood up with his tackle box and poles in one hand, and glass in the other.

“Roy, stop! I want to get a picture.” She yelled as she grabbed her camera. Kelly snapped the picture as Roy stood on the bank.

Kelly realized that her focus had changed from her own face in the mirror to the wall behind her reflected to her gaze. The picture stared back at her, and she felt the damn tears begin to sting her eyes.

“It really was a perfect day.” She whispered.

She actually looked around half expecting to see the trees and the lake, but that had been over twelve years ago. It is November 2019, and Roy had been gone for more than 12 years. Her thoughts and that single memory broke her heart once more. It was as though she was sitting at that picnic table, but this time, when she raised her gaze to the bank, all she saw was ducks on the surface of the water. The spring breeze was fragrant with blooms she could still smell, but what once brought favored memories of road trips in an open convertible, brought tears. Roy had died in 2007 ... He was 49. Kelly dropped her head and moved away from the mirror.