- Romance
- Don't Wait for Me
- Page 4
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Click hereHer head swiveled around the room, talking to all of us. "What can I say, it was the war years; we were young, and we knew he might never come back, and I wanted to have his babies," she said, grinning happily at Beth, before looking back at me, her grin disappearing into a more somber look. "And he never did -- until now." She released my hand, taking it back to hold and look at the picture two handed for a moment.
"He asked me to marry him, but we didn't have enough money for a ring. We were going to wait to tell everyone once we got the ring. He figured we'd have enough saved up by January, so we said if he didn't get shipped out first, we'd get married on Valentine's Day." She paused in her tale, obviously tired, but I suspected also reliving the memory again. Moments later she continued, "The last thing he ever said to me was the night before he left. He was walking to the bus to go back to base; he turned around, pointed his finger at me and winked and said "Don't wait for me!" Her reminiscing done, we all just sat quietly for a moment.
"You never married?" I asked. "You were Miss Shaw when you were my teacher."
"I still am Miss Shaw." She shook her head, "No, somehow getting married never felt right." She paused for a few moments, and then continued. "I could have. I didn't date anyone seriously for years; I kept feeling like Jimmy was going to come back some day. I dated some guys in college, but every time they started getting serious I broke it off. One of the other teachers and I saw each other for a few years before Beth went off to college, but he took it pretty hard when he asked me to marry him and I turned him down." She shook her head sadly, "he never understood."
"Understood what, Mom?"
"He never understood that I'd already found my true love, and it wasn't him. I cared for him a lot; he was a great lover -- but I could never love him."
"Mom!" Beth interjected again, glancing at me, to see my reaction. I just kept looking at Liz Shaw.
"Beth, I'm an old lady, and I don't care what anyone thinks anymore. I never pretended to be a nun, just a single woman." Beth obviously had more trouble with the discussion than I did. "And of course, Robert asked me to marry him too, but he understood. We moved in together and lived together for almost 30 years, until he died, almost 10 years ago." Turning to me, she passed the story back. "How did you find my Jimmy?"
I told her the story, as unbelievable as it seemed; about how I'd found the plane, returned and called for help and that when we got back, on what had seemed to me to be the following day, everything had changed -- but somehow she knew that. She accepted the rest of the tale at face value, up until I told her it was just by chance that I was in Victorville at all. I explained the chain of coincidences over the last few hours that had brought me here, to her bedside, when she reached back over with her hand and put it on the back of mine.
"Oh now, you really don't believe that do you?" I stopped and looked her in the face. She smiled and patted my hand understandingly. "Some things you just can't explain -- so don't try." Her eyes closed for a moment, obviously tired. I started to remove my hand from hers, but she gripped down on it, keeping me there. Her eyes opened, but she was looking past me, past all of us, to some place far away where only she could see. Her gaze shifted to me, her focus pulling back to the here and now. "Thank you, Terry. Thanks for bringing my Jimmy back to me. You don't need to worry, there's nothing wrong with your plane." Her gaze shifted to her daughter, then to the rest of us. "We were going to get married on St. Valentine's Day, 70 years ago tomorrow. I always felt that somehow he'd come back to me, but I guess now maybe it's him that's waiting for me."
~
She was right about the plane. I'd just spent two hours watching as the mechanic had tested the plane, found nothing wrong, and then proceeded to tear the magneto apart anyway -- only to find nothing wrong. He was just putting it back together when my cell phone rang. It was Beth, she was crying. At first I couldn't even comprehend that it was Beth that I was talking with, but once I figured out who it was, I knew what had happened before she told me.
She was found in her bed, one hand holding Jimmy's picture to her chest - the other beside her as if she was holding someone's hand, a smile on her face. Lizzie Warshawski died peacefully in her sleep, sometime in the early morning hours of St. Valentine's Day on what would have been her 70th wedding anniversary. Lizzie and Jimmy were finally together again, her long wait was over.
- COMMENTS
BenLongover 1 year agoAuthorThanks for the comment Anon. It’s always a pleasant surprise when someone finds an older story and still appreciates it, and takes time to comment.
As for Nellis vs Edwards, you’re absolutely correct, and we’re in agreement. Edwards is at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada mountains, a little over a hundred miles from Mt. Whitney, where the mountain scenes too place, whereas Nellis is about 200 miles east. The old George Air Force Base, also mentioned in the story, is about 50 miles due east of Edwards, which would have been Muroc Army Air Field in the 1940’s (which is why Jimmy had no clue “who this Edward is”but was appropriately referred to as Edwards for this story from the 2010’s, as Muroc wasn’t renamed Edwards until the 1950’s. Regardless, that’s all minor details and I’m so glad you stopped by for a while.
Anonymousover 1 year agoA refreshing change to be sure! As a retired USAF SERE Instructor-turned medic I do have one correction though (It may have already been mentioned). Edwards AFB is in southern California. Nellis AFB is near Las Vegas. Otherwise...great story!
his_sweetheartalmost 2 years agoWell, just when I thought I couldn't like you more, you continue to impress me sir. Full body goosebumps and tears. All sorts of feels at 2am is hard on a lady. The aviation details, wartime history and ghosts, just checking all sorts of boxes. ♥️
LeFrog08over 2 years agoI really liked this...it was only missing
the Twilight Zone thème in the background.
viking_blueover 2 years agoSuperb story, exceptionally well crafted. Negative comments can only be coming from someone who didn't feel the story. In reading it, you have to accept the premises of the time travel, and the circumstance of Terry meeting with Miss Shaw in the conclusion. The minor details that were essential to the story were all spot on; any other minor details were background material; not worth quibbling about. The also left me *ahem* peeling onions.
I look forward to more like it.
BenLongalmost 3 years agoAuthorI guess I'm trying to figure out whether this comment is for real or not:
[Has} the author never heard of Helicopters? Someone would have initially flown over the valley in a small sightseeing plane. This would have resulted in further investigations by either private or government agencies. The entire [plot] is bogus!
Dear Anonymous, did you even READ the story? And who 'exactly' is "SOMEONE" that is going to fly over that area in a "sightseeing" plane?
If not, perhaps you MISSED this paragraph: ""Jimmy... I'll call Edwards, they'll surely have A HELICOPTER that can be here in nothing flat and we'll get you out of here." To which, Jimmy, living in 1942 before there WERE any operational helicopters (the Sikorsky R4 that became the first helicopter to reach production, happened in 1942, but really didn't get into usage for another three years) military or civilian, said he had no idea what a heli.. hella.. whatever the hell that was.
Terry then walked out of the hills, arriving where the cell phone again works, at somewhere AFTER DARK, and speaks to the Air Force. I guess in your scenario it goes like this:
"Hello, Air Force?"
"How'd you get this number? This is for Military Use only."
"OH, well, sorry. I called 911 and THEY transferred me to you. I'd need to report a crashed military plane, of which the pilot is severely injured and needs rescue."
"Military? Nah, no military planes flying tonight - all our pilots go home at 5."
"But he's not Air Force, he's Army. He's Sergeant Jimmy Fallon, US Army."
"Well, I tell you what, them dumb fuck Army pukes stupid enough to be flying after dark they deserve whatever happened. Shit, itt's dark, and you can't see anything at night, so what do you want me to do? Why don't you check around and see if you can get a civilian chopper up there to take a look see, there'll probably be some idiot civilian willing to fly in the Sierra's on a dark night, those guys will do anything. Have them take a look see, and if they see something, we'll... well, I don't know what we'll do. We are the Air Force after all. I suppose we might find a helicopter, maybe even one with Search and Rescue capabilities. God, no way I want to make that call tonight - can you imagine the Overtime bill? I'd be demoted for sure. Tell you what, I'll put a note here for the day guys tomorrow. Do you think you can hike back up to Sgt. guy and tell him we'll think about sending somebody tomorrow? Yeah, that would be good."
Terry agreed to meet the AIR FORCE HELICOPTER at first light, which he did, and then actually flew on it to help guide those looking.
Really dude, what TV show do you think you're living in that the Air Force would ask "sight seeing planes" to go "take a look see" before they dispatched S&R? Get real.
I generally don't delete comments, but in this case, maybe I should just delete something so idiotic... Nah, it's a lot more fun to jab em in the eye.
Anonymousalmost 3 years agoHave the author never heard of Helicopters? Someone would have initially flown over the valley in a small sightseeing plane. This would have resulted in further investigations by either private or government agencies. The entire pot is bogus!
