It seemed there was no end to this ending! For hours Ralph lay there in the park, writing speech after speech on the tablet of his memory, but now the time had come and he couldn’t find his memory. He must have left it there under the tree, that tree so strong and forceful, standing there as if the whole of the earth belonged to it. Ralph had thought a long time about that tree, he even talked to it, now he couldn’t help smiling on the inside, as he remembered the conversation they’d had, the tree and he.
Of course, the tree didn’t talk much, but then what could a person expect from an old tree, no matter how strong and forceful. Now as the words so important were forgotten, he muttered the only words that he could grasp from his limitless forgetfulness, and said, “Good-bye, Laura,” and turned around before she could say anything, he’d left his motorcycle running, so it wasn’t more that thirty seconds before he was on his way, but to Ralph, that was thirty seconds too long! He loved her, or at least tried hard, too hard, so hard that it was tearing his heart out to say good-by!
Under his breath Ralph muttered, “That damn tree, of all the damn trees I had to meet, I had to find one with a sense of humor,” he laughed then, realizing how ridiculous it all was, suddenly he had the wonderful sense of freedom one gets at the moment of a broken tie. Ralph knew that tonight he’d cry, but now he was free, free to go and come, free to be alone again. “Oh what the hell, wait until tonight, laugh it up while the laughing is good dear Ralph.”
The only movement was the dust as it settled slowly, leaving behind as it settled, the empty air, filled just a moment before by the figure of the man she loved. Laura stood there for a long time, dry eyed, she wasn’t surprised that she didn’t cry, after all hadn’t she known that he was going to leave her? Ever since that night so long ago, when was it? Yesterday. God it seemed as if it had been a year.
His hands had caressed her eager breast and all the time his eyes had asked her why. He was sad and pensive, offering her what had once been offered with a twinkling eye and a smile of delight. What had gone wrong? Where had they failed? Now her eyes filled, as she thought of the beauty they had shared. Swiftly she turned, and ran up the stairs to the two story frame house, gray now, where yesterday it had been white, old now, where yesterday it had been full of character.
Charging up the stairs two at a time, slipping on the top one and falling down three steps, biting her lip as she banged her leg against the stair’s edge, “hold it, Laura, for God’s sake what have you lost? He’s no great prize, he blew in from nowhere and you knew from the beginning he’d never settle here, you knew he’d blow right on out again, here one day and gone the next, what the hell have you lost? Security, forget it.
Laura sat down on the step, “how many girls have married the first guy they ever kissed? I’ll bet that if I’d thought of the chances I’d have, I never would have let myself start falling for the bum, Ralph, what the hell kind of a name is that anyway? Sounds like a supermarket, or a smurf or something. Oh hell, cut it kiddo” Wincing from the throbbing in her shinbone, Laura slowly rose and, turning, finished the remaining three steps in about as many minutes. By the time she had reached her room, she was almost laughing, half at the hurt she held within her breast, and half in defense against the tears she knew were waiting.
