The Reunion by Alejandro Gonzales
Were he not sitting in the bleachers of his old high school he hadn’t visited in fifty-some years, old Carl might have assumed the woman approaching him nothing more than a cruel mirage. Time had treated her well–certainly better than him, and though they were both in their late seventies, she didn’t look a day over fifty. His heart raced like it hadn’t since he was a lad as she extended her hand with a smile that could have melted the Arctic twice over. He pinched himself, for surely this had to be a dream. Alas, no; the love of his life who circumstances had swept away for decades was here, wanted to dance with him, and most importantly hadn’t forgotten him.
He stood up with a great deal of effort and placed one hand on her shoulder, the other around her waist. There was so much to say, but somehow he’d lost all the confidence gained as a young pup. She was just so damn beautiful, and all the memories of their youth made him nostalgic for a time which could no longer exist again. Tears stung the back of his eyes for the first time in a few years.
“You remembered me,” he said.
“Well of course,” she said and leaned her head into his shoulder. “How could I have possibly forgotten you?”
Now he did cry, although they were of a happy sort he’d never experienced himself despite hearing about them all the time in anecdotes. She ran a hand through his hair and assured him, even now, even in his old age as if he were really a young man, which he was at heart, that it was okay. They were together and it was okay now.
They danced for a long while, long after everyone left, and then they sat on the bleachers together, reminiscing about old times, catching up on the new ones. A mild pain flared in his chest, not long after she clutched her own. He reached out for her hand and squeezed, an odd sense of euphoria overwhelming him as he entered the next world with her.
Alejandro Gonzales has nine short stories published such as Critic in Trembling With Fear Magazine.
Image by Curt Cornum from Pixabay
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