He and She - A Story of Endless Love

Their life together had started out almost 62 years earlier. They'd never been fortunate enough to have children and they'd both been born into families that had crumbled under the stress of the hard times that had been so prevalent across the country during the 1930s. Each had wound up a ward of the state and grew up never feeling the warm embrace of loving parents, or the deep, abiding affection that children normally share with their brothers and sisters. They never took the time to form friendships with the other unfortunates with whom they were billeted during those formative years. They quickly learned that those with whom they developed relationships were invariably gone within a few months, leaving a deep emotional gash that would be a part of them for years to come.

The nurses, as they were called, were often under great stress themselves, with children of their own, and problems that occupied their every moment. They had no love left to share with children who were not their own. And so it went all through their childhood. They were constantly being moved from one state run home to another. Each move meant another school to attend and more new children to deal with, some friendly some hostile. By the time they were old enough to make their own way in the world, their souls had seen more sadness and endured more antipathy than any child should ever experience.

Along with their freedom from state guardianship came a good deal of trepidation but also a renewed feeling of optimism. They both chose to wander about the country for a few years, trying to launch a new life; trying to find a place where they could put down roots and start life anew. In the end, their search somehow brought each of them to New York; a city that they saw as a shining beacon of opportunity; a place to begin the process of rebuilding the hope that had been bled away during their unhappy childhoods.

He found work at a department store, working nights as a stockman. From midnight to eight a.m., six days a week, he refilled the shelves that had been picked near bare by hoards of shoppers the previous day. It was lonely work. There were only two or three other stockmen in the huge premises of the department store and responsibilities had been divided up in such a manner that he seldom saw his fellow workers more than once or twice a night. Oddly enough, he was not the least disturbed by the loneliness of the job. He found the long hours spent in a solitary environment, carrying out routine tasks, comforting. He was finally a functioning member of society, doing a job that he enjoyed and which gave him a feeling of worth and value.

After a few years of wandering about the country, searching for something that she too sensed was missing from her life, she also settled in New York, not far from the same department store where he had only recently started his new career. As it turned out, she also found work at that same department store on the very first day of her job search. She was hired as the store's assistant window dresser, a newly created position. Store management feared that the work going on in the storefront display windows during the day, was giving the premises a messy, unprofessional appearance and was a distraction that lessened the flow of customers into the store. That being the case, they decided to have all window dressing completed during the Midnight to eight a.m. period. It would be her job to assist the store's existing window dresser with facilitation of the new plan.

So now both he and she worked at the same store, sharing the same midnight to morning working hours. They met on her very first night on the job. At about 4 O'clock in the morning, he walked into the employee lunch room and saw her sitting there, eating a sandwich and sipping a cup of tea. Although both of them were painfully shy and somewhat reclusive by nature, they seemed to know from the very moment that their eyes met, that they shared a common need for the love of someone who could comprehend the trials that they'd endured so far in their short, unhappy lives. They became fast friends and from that night on looked forward all day long to seeing each other at the department store that night.

Their relationship blossomed and became something much more than mere friendship for each of them. They both languished about their boarding houses on their day off each week, wondering what the other was doing. It was unsettling and, although both were expert at keeping their emotions hidden from others, the affection they felt for each other was becoming mutually apparent.

And so finally, about six months after they began working together, he risked experiencing the sort of rejection that he'd feared most of his life, by asking her if she would like to accompany him to dinner and a movie on their next day off. The smile that lit up her face answered his question long before she spoke the words, "Oh I'd love to!"

They had a marvellous time at dinner and laughed happily throughout the light hearted movie that he'd chosen. It was the first of many dinners and movies that they attended together. They began spending all of their time away from the job together. They'd take long strolls through the park. They'd sit for hours along the river and watch the canoes and boats drifting lazily by on warm Summer days. As the balmy days of Summer gave way to the frigid, windy days of Winter, they would wrap themselves up warmly and off they'd go to ice skate or sled at one of the many parks that dotted the city in those heady days.

It was only a matter of time until their fondness grew into love and their love led to marriage. They'd been seeing each other seriously for almost two years and each knew all that there was to know about the other. The shared sadness of their early years was part of the glue that held them close to one another.

The wedding was a small affair. Neither had any close friends nor family to stand by their side during the ceremony. The driver of the cab that took them to the little chapel acted as a witness and the chaplain's wife played "Here Comes the Bride" on an old, out of tune piano. But that mattered not the least to the two young lovers. They were finally united in holy matrimony and were totally committed to spending the rest of their lives together, making each other happy.

The months and years floated serenely by, like fluffy clouds sailing across a warm blue Summer sky. Eventually the two found jobs that allowed them to work during the hours of daylight and each forged a successful career that provided the financial security necessary to live a comfortable life, free of the worries that had plagued them throughout their troubled childhoods. They would have loved to have had children, but for whatever reason it was not meant to be. They accepted the fact that they would never hear the joyous sound of children's feet running happily about their home. There would be no squeals of delight on Christmas morning, no excited laughter as balloons burst at birthday parties, no anxious moments in the lobby of the maternity ward, awaiting the arrival of grandchildren. But, as is so often the case, the disappointment simply brought them closer to each other.

The passing decades brought many changes. Her lovely black hair turned white and her soft supple skin became wrinkled. She developed a slight stoop, the result of arthritis and they were no longer able to spend happy hours walking peacefully through the local parks.

His hair also turned white, but much of it also fell out, leaving him bald, save for a rim of grey hair that clung to his temples and the back of his head. He never developed arthritis, but he had recurring problems with rheumatism that often left him moving much more slowly than he would have liked.

Together they weathered the ravages of aging that all humans must endure, but it never got the best of them. Through it all, their love burned as brightly as a lighthouse beacon on a dark night. As long as they had each other, they could handle any adversity that life handed them. They simply continued walking together, hand in hand, through all of the challenges that life presented.

Then one day, he walked through the front door and found her sitting on the sofa. She was clutching a handkerchief and silently weeping. He couldn't recall ever seeing her cry during all of the years that they'd been together. He sat beside her and asked what was troubling her. It turned out she'd been to the doctors that day. Over the past few months, she'd been experiencing some unusual pain in her chest and wanted to have it checked out. The news that the doctor delivered after his examination was not what she'd been hoping for. She had a heart condition that had existed for several years but had not presented any symptoms until now. The medical science of the day was unable to treat it and her life would be seriously shortened as a result.

She didn't feel sorry for herself. She was crying because she knew that he would never be able to accept her loss. They had become one person over the sixty plus years that they'd known each other. The joy of each had been shared by the other, just as the sadness of each had been shared by the other. How would he carry on without her?

He knew that the time they had left together was short. Each day at her side was a gift. They rose early and stayed awake late, just to consciously spend as much time with each other as they possibly could. Their love, which had been forged of steel from the beginning, grew even stronger and the bond between them had become unbreakable.

And then one day, he awoke and went to the kitchen to make coffee. When he came back to the bedroom to rouse her, she was already awake, but too weak to get up.

He called the doctor and, in a panic, explained the change in his wife's condition. The doctor told him to take her to the hospital immediately and he'd see her there.

At the hospital, the doctor examined her carefully and administered a sedative to make her comfortable. He then took her husband by the arm and quietly guided him out into the hallway. The news was not good. She was having trouble breathing and her pulse was becoming much weaker. The kindly doctor told him that the end would come quickly and he would ensure that she would not suffer any pain along the way.

He stood in the hallway, watching the doctor walking away. Tears began to well up in his eyes and he knew that he wouldn't be able to face life without her. He had never known happiness before he met her and he knew that his life would become a ritual of endless sadness without her by his side.

He went back into her room and drew a chair beside her bed. He sat down, took her frail and tiny hand in his and watched in silence. He sat there for hours, looking at the face that had lit up his life for decades. His love for her knew no bounds. From time to time he'd rise from his chair and lean down to kiss her lovely face. She never woke from her sleep. Hours later, he felt her tiny hand squeeze his and at that moment her laboured breathing ceased.

He rushed to the hallway and called for a nurse or doctor. Moments later, the same doctor he'd spoken with in the hallway earlier, showed up and after listening to her chest with his stethoscope, returned to the old man's side. He placed an understanding hand on his shoulder and whispered "I'm sorry".

He didn't hear the doctor's expression of sorrow. He didn't feel the hand on his shoulder. He felt and heard nothing. Without saying a word, he turned and walked into the hallway of the hospital. He knew that the body lying in the hospital bed was no longer his beloved wife. It was now simply a cold empty reminder of the terrible loss that he'd suffered. He stopped at the nursing station and in a numb trance informed them that he'd be back later to attend to the final arrangement for his wife's body.

He was still in a daze as he made his way to the front entrance. He had no idea how he would go about living his life now that she was gone. She had stood at the center of his life, a strong and nurturing lover, for more than six decades. He walked slowly down the hallway, totally oblivious to what was going on around him. The sounds, the smells and all movement in the hospital had ceased to exist. He was a solitary man once again, alone in a world of loneliness. Nothing would ever have any meaning again now that his love was no longer by his side.

He made his way down the steps of the front entrance by rote. He didn't see all of the busy pedestrians walking along the sidewalk at the front of the hospital. He didn't see all of the cars rushing up and down the busy street. He didn't see anything save the face of his lost love. He walked slowly along the street, his head bowed and his mind numb from the pain of having witnessed the death of the only person in the world whom he'd ever loved.

He paid no heed as his aimless, undirected gait took him from the sidewalk to the roadway. He never heard the blaring horn of the speeding car that was careening towards him, its brakes locked in a futile attempt to stop. He never heard the sickening thud as it hit him and knocked him into the air. He didn't hear the people screaming in terror as his broken body landed on the pavement in a lifeless heap. Before his body even came to rest on the roadway, he found himself once again looking into the loving, happy eyes of his wife. She was no longer the frail, damaged, old woman, who'd left him only moments ago in the hospital. She was once again the beautiful young woman he'd married 62 years earlier.

She reached out to him smiling, her youthful face filled with joy and happiness to once again be looking into the eyes of the only man she'd ever loved. He took her hand and rose from the pavement on legs that were now young and strong and embraced her with the rejuvenated arms of the man she'd married more than six decades earlier. They looked into each others eyes and in a moment of the purest possible love, their two hearts reunited. Then, casting a final glance at the earthly body that he was leaving behind, they turned and, arm in arm, strolled off into eternity.

The end