Lucid Waking

Good and Bad

            Ester sat on the steps of the old library building and watched the workout center across the street. It was almost six o’clock and her stomach was growling with more intensity as the sun went down. Finally Jack walked out of the building in sweatpants and a tee shirt and waved at her. She stood up and walked down the steps.
            “Sorry I took so long,” he said taking her hand and swinging it gently as they walked.
            “That’s all right,” she lied sweetly. Things were starting to look up now, but she still had that sour taste in her mouth from something she couldn’t forgive. Ignoring her empty stomach she said, “I actually want to talk to you in private about something that’s been bothering me.”
            He nodded and when they came to St. Peter’s Church, he steered them into the cemetery behind it. The graveyard was twice as large as the gigantic chapel itself and held hundreds of various gravestones of several different shades of marble. Angels stood up as guardians holding their hands in solemn remembrance. She blushed at the fact that she was in the cemetery and recited what she wanted to say in her head. They walked over to a weatherworn silver bench under a tree and sat down. She stared at the gravestone in front of her.
            “Jack, I don’t think I can continue this relationship. Neither one of us is really happy and we’ve been stuck like this for way too long not wanting to hurt either one’s feelings.”
            “This is about Ally, isn’t it?”
            She paused and soaked up the silence. “No. Well, sure that’s what got me thinking, but I think it started before that. I don’t know. We have so much trouble getting together and it’s just not worth it. Every chance you get you have to go to work and whenever you’re not working, I’m at the theater. And if we do have free time, then we mostly have other plans with someone else,” she took a deep breath, but kept staring ahead at the gravestone in front of her, “I’m going to be honest and say that I don’t think this is worth it right now and I can’t have a solid relationship since I barely know you. I feel like you’re not there for me and you cannot commit. It’s just better if I keep looking.”
            She looked up at his stone cold expression and watched the light creep into small imperfections in his face. He looked up at the top of the steeple and sighed, but didn’t face her. “I get that feeling, too,” he said quietly.
            “I’m sorry,” she said and stood up. “Go get yourself something to eat,” she handed him a twenty-dollar bill, which she placed on the seat next to him. Having nothing else to say, she walked out of the graveyard and walked down the street.
            He sat staring at the gravestones ahead of him, numb. Then he picked up her twenty-dollar bill and walked towards the church. He tried the door and finding it locked slipped the money under the door and walked the opposite way down the street. His cell phone rang.
            “How’s it going?” his friend asked.
            “We broke up,” Jack said looking at the sky.
            “Oh, well. Life goes on.”
            Jack laughed at his friend’s nonchalant attitude. “You’re right. Besides,” he said turning the corner to where his car was parked, “I’ve got a dinner date with Ally.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 16th, 2006 at 10:21 am and is filed under Realistic Fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.