Reconciliation 4

Chicago, Illinois

June 21, 1957

“Where can we go to be alone?”

“I’ve an idea!”
The wife said,

“We’ve eighteen bucks.

How’s ’bout we get something to eat,

go to a movie,

then,

by the time we get out it’ll be dark

and,

like we’re on a date,

what if we find someplace to park

and,

you know,

fool around.”

                              ****

Awaiting dinner,

one on each side of a booth,

lifting his hand,

“Your wedding band?”

The wife asked,

 “Where is it?”

Carefully formulating his words,

“I never stopped hoping things

would work their way out

and we’d be together again.

You don’t know this

but one night

I worked up the

nerve to ring the bell

to see if I could see the baby,

and…

God, honey,

I missed both of you so much!

But when I saw you’d moved

from our home

to the home of your parents

it seemed so hopeless

I kind of went nuts, and…”

“It was you! You rang the bell!

Mother said it was you.”

“I’m sorry!

I hope I didn’t wake the baby,

but when I saw you’d left our home…”

“It’s okay,

I knew I should have kept our place.”

“That’s when it seemed like

there wasn’t any hope for us.

So I rang the bell,

then took a long ride and…

You have no idea how bad I felt!

Then I got mad and figured

 if you don’t want to be married to me

then…”

lowering his voice,

whispering,

“I said, ‘F*** it!

Why keep the ring!’

So…

I’m sorry, baby,

but I threw it away.”

Remembering her pain,

imagining his pain,

looking away,

“I’m sorry, too,”

the young woman said softly.

By now knowing his wife…

thinking he knew his wife,

thinking of her as a person whom,

to say the least,

found it difficult to admit error

and,

unable to catch her true meaning

—whether she felt remorse for,

in his opinion,

causing their separation,

or because he’d thrown his wedding band away—

he didn’t ask

and she didn’t say.

©November 14, 2011 / Mark M. Lichterman

To be continued as “The Reconciliation 5”