Childhood Friend

As you check your mail, you notice a letter that makes you stop in your tracks. You recognize the name on the return address, but you can’t really believe it. You haven’t spoken to this person since third grade. That’s been a while, considering you now have grandkids that are about to start jr. high school.

When you walk in the door, the phone is ringing, so you reluctantly set the letter down on the table and answer the phone. An hour later, you hang up because your three grandchildren are coming in from school. The mail, for the time being, is forgotten.

After a while, one of the grandkids knocks over the basket of mail, and while picking it up, mixes it up. The letter gets shuffled almost to the bottom of the pile.

Later that night, as you are sorting through the mail, you run across the letter again. Again, you wonder about the person that has tracked you down after all these years. A knock at the door stops you once more from opening the letter. At the door is one of your daughters, who wants to sit and visit for a while. By the time she leaves, you are ready to go to bed and the letter is put aside for tomorrow.

The next morning, over a hot cup of coffee, you pick up the letter and open the envelope. You remove the letter and unfold it, very curious now as to what it says. It is from an old friend, who says that he saw you at a restaurant and recognized you, but before he could get a chance to speak to you, you left the restaurant. He says he spent a lot of time tracking you down, so he hopes he has the right person. He would like you to write back.

You decide there is no time like the present. You grab paper and pen and spend the next two hours writing back to him, outlining your life since third grade. A week later, another letter comes. Frankly, you are surprised, because you figured that you had rambled on too much in the letter that you sent. 

This letter summarizes his life since third grade. At the end of this letter, he says that he would like to get together sometime and catch up in person. You don’t necessarily see a problem with this, so you write a reply agreeing to meet. You also send him your email address so that the two of you can communicate quicker.

A few days later, you receive an email from your long lost friend, setting up a meeting with you. The day of the meeting comes, and you are surprised to find that you are extremely nervous about this meeting.

The two of you meet at a little restaurant downtown, and you spend several hours talking and laughing and catching up. At the end of the evening, he asks if he can see you again. You readily agree. The two of you exchange phone numbers and you depart from the restaurant, a little grin on your face and a new bounce in your step.

Later that evening, your phone rings. It’s him. After the two of you talk a little, he proposes the next date, and you accept. He offers to pick you up this time, and you agree. 

The two of you begin to see each other on a regular basis. You are very excited about this relationship, and it seems to be the same with him. The two of you become practically inseparable, and friends start asking if you are going to get married.

Eventually, he tells you that he loves you and that he would like to spend the rest of his life with you. You are amazed at the way this is going, and you tell him you feel the same way about him. He tells you, however, that this cannot happen. He has reasons, but he can’t share them with you. He says, though, that he would really like to keep seeing you.

You have decided to think about this situation for a while before you can reach a decision. He has agreed to this. While you are thinking about it, you tell him that you need to take a break from seeing him at all. He understands, and agrees to let you make the move, if there is a move to be made.

You decide that you really need to know what is going on with him and why he can’t commit to you. First, of course, you google him. There is surprisingly little information to be found on him on Google. After a bit more consideration, you decide to try following him to see if that will give you a clue.

You rent a car, because he knows yours. You buy a blonde wig, and set yourself up to be a spy of sorts. You don’t have to wait long before he leaves work. He leaves and goes straight to his apartment, which you have been to numerous times. However, after about an hour, he comes back out and gets into his car. You proceed to follow him again, being careful to stay several cars behind. His first stop is at a restaurant. This is not one that the two of you have eaten at before, because he said he didn’t like the food there. After about ten minutes, a woman comes out and gets into his car. You would just love to believe that this is his sister, but he doesn’t have a sister. You follow the two of them, and they stop at a house, where they pick up two small children and proceed to drive. At an apartment complex, he parks and goes inside an apartment with the woman and the two kids. He seems very familiar with the kids and there is a fairly strong resemblance between him and them. Your heart sinks. As you are about to leave, he comes back out and gets back into his car.

He drives to the casino, where he picks up another woman and drives her to a small cottage type house and drops her off. They kiss passionately before she gets out of the car. Your heart begins to break. Well, he is driving on, so must you.

This time he parks at a bar and goes inside. He is inside for approximately half an hour before coming out with yet another woman. He drives off, and you follow. This woman he brings to yet another apartment complex, parks, and goes inside with her. This time he is inside for quite a while. You decide that you have more than enough information and you head home. Your heart is now completely broken.