At first glance, it seemed as if someone had pressed rewind. As if I had been transported into time, back to when they first met.
~ ~ ~ It was late, almost midnight. The room was dark, barely lit by the glimmer of downtown lights through the window.
He sat there quietly, his white t-shirt back towards me. His brown haired head gently rested upon his wife's shoulder. She sat upright, her back tall, supporting her husband at her side. Her blond hair tied up in a messy ponytail, barely falling upon the shoulders of her worn-in gray sweatshirt. Cooing him to sleep, she whispered encouraging words softly into the air...
What was she saying? I couldn't hear.
Were they reminiscing?
Did they dive, carefree and fully clothed, into warm summer lakes, somewhere in South Carolina? Did they often taunt one another, with wide eyes and frightful fingers, tickling and laughing till their stomachs hurt? Did they break up, cry their sorrows away, write never-sent love letters, then get back together?
~ ~ ~
Standing there, a few feet away from his hospital bed, I felt like a stranger intruding on their private moment. The pill cup in my hand reminded me of where I was. I cleared my throat.
A bit startled, they turned around. Back to reality.
I placed the pill cup on his bedside table. An otherwise young, healthy guy...
He nodded. His wife tipped the cup of water into his mouth. He swallowed.
with maybe 2 months left. What would they do after? Their young children, without a father?
My heart sank.
And his dedicated wife, without her husband?
~ ~ ~ "my soul felt so alone i didn't know what else to do...
but each morning i wake i look for your face it is not you
my heart has only loved once that love was you." - amber rubarth
