Timing

It was cold, almost freezing. That almost was the reason he could walk around with nothing but a coat. He made his way through the trees with his feet barely touching the ground. A wind blew away his tiny little hat from his head. Left his hairless head bare for everyone to see. He did not care though. He was over that. And the park was empty anyways; no one came because of the fog. It was so tick he couldn’t even see five feet ahead. But he knew his way around here so well he could find the bench without looking. He was there now. The bench was empty. He was early, as always. He was used to being early; he had grown to like it. He could sit and think to himself for a while. It was getting harder and harder to find some time to just think these days. He sat in his spot and started to wait. He had grown to like the anticipation too. At first it was so painful; it was like something was trying to eat him inside out. He used to have hard time resisting it. Nowadays, he would let go. He would let this feelings devour him and leave nothing else but anticipation. His ears were stronger than his eyes, he heard her before he could see her. Gentle yet strong steps on the stony ground. Almost rhythmic. He realized that the fog was descending, how long had he been sitting here? He knew he wouldn’t like the answer to that.

At last, she appeared. She was wearing a black dress and a black hat. Wearing her grief. She didn’t even care to give him a look, just sat next to him, to her spot. There was nothing on her face, like a statue. No love, no hate, no sadness, no nothing. He hoped that his face was the same right now. But he knew himself better. Someone had to start talking by now, the silence was killing him.

 

“Coming from a funeral?” He said at last with a whimpering voice. He cleaned his throat.

 

“No.”

 

“Then would you be so kind to explain me wh-“

 

“I’m at a funeral.” She cut him off with a harsh tone. “I did not think I would be in need of explaining that to you. Knowing you are so familiar with the deep meanings of actions.”

 

“Of course, I am very into that stuff. Not as much as your love to saying things that you don’t mean though.”

 

“Hypocrite.”

 

 “Sordid.”

 

            They fell silent for a while again. There was no sound but the cold breeze that was blowing easily. He shifted in his spot uncomfortably. She kept her pose as if she would break into thousand pieces when she let go. Neither one wanted to be the one that broke the silence, which would be losing. They desperately waited for the other one to start talking.

 

“How is your wife?” She said giving up.

 

“How is your husband?”

 

“Long dead.”

 

“Long gone.” She laughed through her nose.

 

“Can’t shackle them can you? They keep running from the first open window or door they can find. Or did this one begged for Santa to take her out through the chimney?”

 

“At least they are honest with their feelings. They don’t hold their truth from me, for someone else.”

 

“I see this one took your hair with her. You think that you’ve found the peskiest person in the world, but a worse one always comes up.”

 

“It wasn’t some grumbling that took my hair, it was the chemo.” That took her attention very fast, even broke her perfect pose. “Is that fear I see in your eyes? Are you really that scared that I might die?”

 

“That’s gibberish! I was only shocked, that’s all.”

 

“Shocked? Really? No care, no sadness?”

 

“I feel sad yes, for your assets. You never had any children, thank the gods because this world couldn’t handle any one else of your blood, and now your latest wife has given up on you too. What will happen to those precious things? Now that’s something to care about.”

 

“Still racist eh? Now don’t worry my dear, I’m perfectly fine at the moment. I’ve recovered, just no one told my head about it yet.”

 

“It is not racism when it’s about you dear,” She mimicked him. “it is only a scientific sentence.”

 

“By the way, how did your last husband die? I guess you learned a lot science that way.”

 

“Don’t try to be allusive please; you sound like a mouse trying to roar.”

 

“You would be surprised to hear what noises a mouse can make.”

 

“But I have heard them all, haven’t I?” That took him back for a second. She laughed truly this time. “Now that’s, how you talk allusive!”

 

“You’ve always been the sly one, I give you that. But only if you weren’t so vain, that way you could have everything you ever wanted. You could get away with anything, play any trick you want. Sadly your greatest gift, is your greatest curse. Because whenever you fool someone, gull them, dance with words; you have to show it off. You have to tell the whole world about it, that way no one is ever fooled for long.”

 

“Touché!” He felt pride filling in, only to see that sarcastic smile on her face. “You know what? You might have a point there. But only a little one.” She laughed again.

 

“Can’t play nice can you?”

 

“Oh but playing nice is so not fun! Besides I know you are jealous because you can’t play my way, one needs a defect on that issue to be made fun of.”

 

            She laughed hard again. The silence came suddenly after that, out of nowhere. Fog was gone. The whole park was shinning now. It was only a matter of time for people to fill in. He had to keep it short.

 

“I heard about your son. And I wanted to say, I’m sorry.”

 

“Don’t be.” She said looking nowhere in particular. “He was not yours.”

 

“But he was yours.” Her eyes met his.

 

“I truly loved you, you know?” She said out of nowhere. “I really did. All that time, you thought I was using you and keeping you hanging on. But I was just a girl in love.”

 

“I know and I knew it back then too. All I wanted was to set you free, so you could reach your dreams. But-“

 

“But you never knew that my dreams were all you.” He felt tears in his eyes and saw that she was about to give in to it too. He looked away.

 

“Thank god I didn’t.”

 

“Thank god you didn’t.”