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.
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