As Time Goes By

I must admit I’m so nervous that my stomach is all tied up in knots. So why did I answer her request on Facebook to meet her? It’s been, what, fifty-six years since we last saw each other. Oh man, we were just kids! We lived near each other in the lower Bronx, by the zoo. We grew up best friends, perhaps on my part a little more. I was seventeen, and she was sixteen, a five-foot-one beauty with brown eyes and blond hair. I was your typical Irishman with black hair, blue eyes, and a ruddy complexion. Yet, as I look at myself in the subway window, I see a different person. I’m old. My thick black hair has thinned and turned grey, and I wear thick glasses over my now pale blue eyes. Long gone is the young athletic physique lost to overeating and age. I once stood five foot eight, but now I barely make five foot six. Will she even recognize me?

I looked up her Facebook for pictures of her now, but Lois, like me, doesn’t post anything new. Her last photo was when she was on a cruise with her late husband when they were about fifty. She looked lovely, though. I still remember the last night we were together.

                                                                …

The subway train we took from the Bronx pulls into Grand Central around one in the afternoon. Usually, Lois is wired and excited on a trip like this. But this time, she seems a little laid back and kind of quiet. We get off the train and travel through the station, which is packed. Of course, it’s packed because it’s Christmas. I’m never ready for the shock when you climb up the steps to street level. New York hits you like a sledgehammer! The noise of the people talking, taxis honking, cops blowing the whistles, not to mention Christmas music coming from everywhere. People who work and live in the city have an uncanny sense of space. They can swivel their hips without looking up to avoid running into anybody else. Amazing.

Lois is shopping for her parents and her two brothers. On the other hand, I only have my parents and have already done all my shopping. So I just came along to keep Lois company. When she’s finished, I suggest we go into Macy’s and grab a sandwich and coffee. Lois glances down and sighs. Leaning closer, I study her eyes. “Lois, what’s the matter? Is something wrong?”

“Oh, Liam. Remember how I told you my father was looking for a new job? Well, he got one, but the thing is, they need him right away. So, the company will put us in a motel until we find a house and ship our stuff out for us.”

“Where are you moving to and when?” My voice is barely above a whisper.

“Michigan and tomorrow,” she sobs. “That’s why I’ve been so quiet. I didn’t want to ruin your Christmas, but I’ll never see you again!” Lois throws her arms around my neck and cries into my chest. 

I pull her closer and wrap my arm around her small frame.  “Oh, Lois, that’s terrible! We’ve been friends forever. You’re my best friend!” I take her by her shoulders and look into her eyes. Then, reaching into my pocket, I take out a small friendship ring. “I was going to ask you to be my girl this Christmas.” My eyes fill with tears.

Both of us are silent all the way home. When we arrive at the Bronx station, it starts snowing a little heavier, making all the Christmas decorations seem all the more beautiful, but we don’t notice. Finally, when we reach Louis’ front steps, I ask, “Will you write me and let me know how you’re doing and stuff?”

Lois hugs me, “Of course I will! I promise that I’ll never forget you, Liam, never!” And with that, she gives me a long kiss, but sadly it’s a kiss goodbye.

Over time the letters slow down and then stop altogether. I still have them wrapped in a ribbon in my desk drawer. I come out of my reminiscence to the sound of the train slowing down. I’ve arrived at Grand Central.

                                                            …

Lois Patterson arrives at the big glass doors of the Macy’s Department store on Herald Square. She’s wearing a heavy woolen coat with a stylish white hat. Once inside, she is taken aback by all the people shopping. Lois grips her cane tightly as she maneuvers through the crowd. She finds it difficult to hold on because the cold has made her arthritic hands ache. The restaurant is in the basement, so Lois must take the old shaky escalator. She pauses and is nearly swept down the steps by the people jostling and pushing in their haste to get on.

“OH!” she exclaims. But then, she feels a hand take her arm as a friendly Irish fellow smiles and says, “Let me give you a hand there, Mother. I’ll get you to the bottom safe and sound.”

“Oh, thank you, young man, that’s so kind.” Lois thinks he looks a little like Liam. Looking around the crowded restaurant, she doesn’t think Liam has arrived yet. After all, she is about twenty minutes early herself.

Seeing the ladies room off to the right, she decides to check her appearance. She unbuttons her heavy coat and hangs her cane on the sink. Then, looking into the spotted streaky mirror, Lois readjusts her hat. She stops, and her shoulders fall as she thinks, “Oh, just look at me. I’m so old and wrinkled. Poor Liam will never recognize me! On closer inspection, she laments, “Gone is the young girl he used to love. She’s been replaced with a little white-haired old lady, a grandmother of three.  I wonder if I have too much perfume on. The kids always complain that I wear too much.”  Just then, two young girls pass by. One of them remarks, “Hey! Something smells really nice in here, doesn’t it?” Lois smiles. Still, she wonders, “What will Liam think? I looked at his Facebook page, and like myself, he doesn’t post any pictures of himself. I’m pretty sure he never married, so the picture of him holding a baby dressed in pink must have been a niece. He looked to be about fifty or so. Liam looked quite handsome, with his hair turning white at the temples. Is it wrong of me to want to meet him again in the very place where we parted all those years ago?

As Lois exits the lady’s restroom, she hears her name called. “Louis Patterson, is that you?”

She looks up and sees an elderly gentleman standing in front of her. He is somewhat stooped with thick glasses and thinning gray hair pushed back.

“Liam Neary! It’s so good to see you after all this time.”

As they draw near to one another, Liam takes her hand. He notices the friendship ring on her little finger.

“Lois,” he smiles, “You’re as lovely as ever.”

“And Liam,” she responds,” You’re still as handsome as ever.”

Then, in the middle of the crowded Macy’s department store at Christmas, the couple kiss.