Now and Then

She awoke just before sunrise on Sunday morning. She loved this time of day, and was glad to see that everyone else was sleeping soundly. I’ll slip away for a solitary walk, she thought. She put her jacket on over her sweatshirt, and putting on her boots, she slipped quietly out of camp. She walked to the creek they had all discovered on Saturday. She crossed on the slippery stepping stones with the cold water rushing just a couple of inches belneath the soles of her boots. She held her breath until she was across, then followed a little path that almost immediately rose so sharply that she had to lean her head back to see the top of the ridge. She started up, sometimes having to pull herself by branches or small saplings near the path. On top of the ridge she surveyed a clearing in a valley that stretched out to a tall stand of pine trees. Just at the edge of the pine forest, she saw a man standing looking toward the top of the ridge. Looking at her? From what she could tell from this distance, he was tall and of average build. His hair was dark, and a little long. He was clean shaven and his clothes looked a little odd. As she watched, he started toward her. If I were sane, she thought, I would be running back toward camp as fast as I could. However, she felt no fear, and began to walk toward him. His appearance was a little different, but this was the sixties and unorthodox garb was the rule of the day for young people. It was not his clothing that held her attention. His light brown eyes held hers and left her breathless. When they were within six feet of each other they both stopped as if on cue. He said, “I’ve been waiting for you Abby.” “I know,” she said. Then she was in his arms and he was kissing her. She clung to him, returning his kisses, hoping the moment would last forever. She felt the world melt away around her and the air seemed charged with some energy. She felt light-headed, and thought this was better than her flying dreams, better than anything she had ever felt in her life! She didn’t know how much time had passed when she felt him going. They stood together and as he let her go, his right hand flowed down her arm to her hand and finally let it slip away. “I’ll be seeing you,” she thought she heard him say as he was going, and then he disappeared into the trees on the other side of the clearing. As she turned to go, she saw a huge clump of honeysuckle vines a few feet from where she was standing. That wasn’t strange in itself, but there were climbing rosebushes entangled with the honeysuckle and that was strange out here in the middle of nowhere. For some reason she felt a brush of sadness like a soft breeze pass over her, then she said bemusedly to herself, “This must have been an old home place sometime long ago.”