Longing for the Day He Met Her

It was already dark out as Warren watched the sun sink slowly, oh so slowly, behind the great old pines barely visible through the mist floating above the water.

It was that time, when it was no longer day but could hardly be called night for though the sun was almost gone, it lit up the whole sky in ribbons of color. It was that time, when all other sounds were silent or at least drowned in the tangle of thoughts inside his mind. It was that time, when he watched an ant float slowly, oh so slowly, on a leaf out in the water.

He watched it frantically crawl from side to side though there was little hope of escape. He pondered perhaps lending it a hand, but the ant was just far enough that he’d have to stand in the water to reach it. 

“Do you remember when we first met?” He looked over, there she was, showed by the night beside him. 

He smiled at her, “of course darling, I could never forget you.” Her wispy hair rested on her shoulders; she looked the same as the day he’d met her. A day that had burned a hole in his heart. He longed to go back, to be that man. That man. The one who had stood confidently before life had turned his back. But that man was as far away as the great pine trees past the lake.

He swung his legs slowly, oh so slowly, back and forth as they dangled over the edge of the dock.

“Do you remember the park?” she said laughing, a laugh that could have lit up any room. “The one with the big red bench that you found me on?”

“Yes, I remember,” he breathed resting his hand beside hers on the wooden dock. “You were sad.” He remembered the tears dripping down her soft angelic face. She should never have had to be sad or to feel such pain.

She shook her head, “I was more than sad! I sat there bawling my eyes out,” she glanced at him, the stars made her eyes twinkle. “I’m sure that was the best first impression!” and there was that laugh again.

“No no, even sad you were still the most beautiful women I’d ever met.”

“Oh, I’m sure!” she teased shaking her head, “but there you came to comfort me.” She smiled, “I hardly remember what was wrong now.”

“You were lost,” Warren whispered.

“That’s right! I had missed an interview and you helped me find my way home,” she looked at him lovingly, “you always did know where to go.”

He cracked a small smile, “perhaps back then, but I remember forgetting to ask your name and boy, did I wish I had asked for your number.” That was it, he’d been sure, he would never see that woman again.

She threw her head back laughing. “Oh, that day in the coffee shop a year later, it was fate I’m sure!”

He smiled sadly, “I don’t believe in fate.”

“How can you not believe in fate?” she asked shaking her head. “It brought me to you.”

“And it took you away.”

He sat there silently, she said nothing. His glanced back to the lake and there was the ant still crawling back and forth on the leaf. Why didn’t it give up? There was hardly any hope for the poor thing. The stars twinkled overhead; it was late.  

“That day we met in the park,” she said quietly, “it was perfect.”

“Hardly,” he said frowning, “I should have asked your name, I should have asked for your number, I should have at least said goodbye,” he said shaking his head. Oh, how he longed to have had a chance to say goodbye.

She smiled, “sometimes goodbyes don’t need to be said out loud for them to be heard.”

Warren looked up at her, she reached to place her hand on his slowly, oh so slowly. He closed his eyes and breathed in. He could almost feel her beside him. So, there he sat. When he finally opened his eyes, the sun was rising slowly, oh so slowly, behind the great old pines. In the water, the leaf with the ant so dedicatedly running back and forth was closer to the shore. Perhaps there was a chance for it still.

He glanced beside him; in the early morning mist, he could almost see her sitting there. He stood and walked to his car packed full of all his possessions sitting in the gavel lane by an old faded house. He could almost picture the door covered with a bright yellow before it chipped away, the gardens full of flowers before they wilted away and the house full of life before she passed away. Warren climbed into the car and closed the door.

As he drove into the distance, the sun rose fully into the sky far above the great old pines. It was then that the ant finally reached the shore.