The Walk

The walk alone would take only a few minutes, and yet to him it would last hours. It would be the last time he would walk these paths. To see the trees and the flowers in all their splendor. He could smell the apple blossoms in bloom, sweet and heady.

He looked across the sprawling lawn and saw a few birds and a squirrel out for their morning feeding. The squirrel ran towards him and stopped, its small arms held in front as it looked around and at him. Smelling him and not taking offense, it scampered away to find better, less crowded areas of the park to feed. He stopped for a breather at a bench that some else was sitting on.

"Is someone sitting here?" he asked the elderly woman as he pointed to the half empty bench.

She smiled at him and said no.

"Thank you." He sat and exhaled noisily as he did so. "Sorry, I have some trouble with my breathing."

"It's okay; we all have some problems from time to time." She smiled after she said it, he smiled back.

"It's nice out." He pointed around them at all the newly green grass and blooming things.

"Yes, it's getting warmer. I hope it doesn't rain soon." The woman looked around and saw the clouds that were forming over the lake.

"I can feel it in my bones, it'll rain soon." His bones ached every time it was going to rain now.

"I know what you mean, I can tell days before a good storm." She held out a paper bag to him, he looked and saw some cookies. "Take one, their homemade."

He reached in and took the first one his fingers contacted. He saw the nuts and chips peeking out of the golden brown top. He thanked her and took a small bite. The rich chocolate and sweet, slightly woody taste of nuts was delightful. He thanked her again, and then said nothing as he savored the taste of the delicious cookie.

"I'm a good cook if I do say so myself." She smiled as she watched him enjoy the tastes and textures of the sweet treat. He finished the cookie and dusted his hands off in front of him.

"That was delicious, thank you." She did not offer another, he would not have accepted it anyway. His stomach was content and he would not want to upset it with more.

He held his hands in his lap and smiled as the cool air played over his face and arms. He had taken off his sweater and walked with only his short sleeved shirt on.

A little girl next to him wanted something, she was pulling at his shirt hem.

"Yes -- " He looked again and saw the old woman. For a second he didn't know what to believe.

Thinking back, the little girl reminded him of his wife, when she was a kid. They had lived in the same neighborhood all their lives. He knew Sarah for years before they decided to marry. They had been friends for as long as he could remember.

"It's alright, there's nothing to be afraid of. We'll just sit here for awhile and talk." She was smiling at him.

She had wrinkles and age lines. Old but wizened, kind of like his grandmother. He remembered back to a time when he spent his summers with his grandparents. She would bake chocolate chip cookies just like the ones this woman had.

"What's it like to be such a good cook." He asked her, thinking of his grandmother.

"I used to cook for some soldiers, that was a long time ago. Now I cook for fun and for people I like." She held out the bag and he took another. It was remarkably like the ones his grandmother used to make. She again said nothing as he enjoyed the cookie. It did not bother his stomach at all. He had been having so many problems lately.

He remembered how his grandmother used to put cookies on a plate by the cash register of the drug store. He didn't understand at the time, but soldiers would come and go every so often and she would offer them a cookie. He understood that the country was at war but not what it meant, he just understood that everyone was sad for those leaving. He liked the uniforms and the stories some would tell him about getting ready to fight. They were so heroic to a little boy. Then his mom and dad died, while dad was getting ready to go fight.

He shook off the thought, it was still painful after all these years. He tried to remember what they looked like and couldn't. He ached with more than memories these days.

First the pain in his joints and then the stomach ulcers. Lately the medicines had done nothing. His doctors told him he did not have much time left. He accepted that. He was old and had a full, long life.

He smiled when he brushed his hands off again. He remembered his wife, she had passed away a few years ago.

"She'll be waiting." He turned and for a second, just a split second, the old lady looked like his late wife, Sarah.

"What was that?" He asked her, unsure if he had heard her correctly.

"Nothing. I was just mumbling, the ramblings of an old lady." She smiled and suddenly he saw her knitting. It was some kind of large blanket or some such. He had not noticed it before. She was very adept at the knitting, her hands flashing with the speed of the needles.

Funny he remembered his grandmother used to knit all the time, in front of the radio and then later the TV. She would always be making something. Sweaters, blankets, mittens, hats, he loved the texture of the things she made. The soft wool yarn she would buy and after just a few hours she would have this beautiful piece of clothing. She would make plain and simple patterns, nothing elaborate or fancy, just useful and nice things.

Dave's parents had died when he was young, an accident involving a truck so he stayed with his grandparents. He had been with his grandparents when the police arrived with the news. They didn't want to take him to see the crushed bodies at the hospital, it had been a closed casket funeral and he didn't understand for a few years why.

He heard a dog off in the distance and held his hand up to block the bright sun. He could make out a dog, small and brown running and chasing butterflies. It looked remarkably like his old dog, Scruff. He had it when he was ten or twelve, just a little terrier, small and scared.

He could remember when he picked it up from the alley behind the drug store he would go to after school. It was nosing in the garbage behind the store and he scared it, he didn't mean to. He heard something just before he went into the store for a soda and stopped at the mouth of the alley. He quickly forgot about the soda and went down the alley.

The dog was hiding behind an old wooden crate, he could easily make it out between the slates of wood. It must have been a year old, if that. Brown and black with hair pointing in all directions, he smiled at it as it whimpered. He held out his hand and it pointed its ears up and then sniffed in his direction. Then whimpered and tried to hide even deeper in the crate.

The cool taste of the soda on such a hot autumn day forgotten, he ran to the store and flung open the door. He glanced at the counter and his grandfather asked him what was up.

"Nothing, I just want something that a dog would like. There's a stray outside and I want to feed it." He was glancing around the store. His grandfather, Jacob, smiled and nodded at him.

"I have just the thing." He wiped his hands on the large white apron and walked into the back, holding up a finger as if to tell him to wait a minute.

He came back and had a square of waxed paper in his hand. He set it down and unfolded the crisp white sheet to reveal a sandwich. Taking the bread and setting it aside he held out the piece of roast that rested inside.

"If this is good enough for my dinner, then I guess it'll do for a stray in need." Jacob smiled as he held out the piece for David to take outside. His grandfather owned the store and had bought it from the previous owner before Dave was born. Now his grandfather told him it would be his when he grew up.

The dog was scared to take the morsel at first but then his hunger won out. After the slice of beef, he feed it the bread and cheese while the dog sat on his lap in the back room. The dog licked his face and barked at him. He smiled and petted it while his granddad smiled in the doorway, towering over the two.

"You can bring it home if you take care of it. Take it to the animal hospital and get its vaccinations and such. Get it cleaned up first though; your grandma will never let it into the house if it's dirty like that.

The dog was closer now and he could see it was the same kind of terrier. He remembered his grandmother looking with him in the big encyclopedia about Cairn Terriers. He loved the fact that the little dog napping in the corner on the old sweater in a box actually attacked things larger than it was. Cairn Terriers would clean out the burial cairns for the villages in Scotland, he thought it was neat.

He smiled when the dog noticed the two sitting on the bench and ran toward them. The lady next to him held her hands out and the dog came up to her. The blanket or whatever it was no longer on her lap, she picked up the dog and set it down. It licked her face and she laughed.

"Friendly little thing." She smiled as the dog licked her again and then turned to sniff at Dave. He could swear it was his dog.

"Go ahead and pet it, it won't bite." He felt foolish to have hesitated. But nowadays with people buying and training Bulldogs and Dobermans for pets, you never could be too careful. But this was a small dog, not some mean vicious large one. He held out his hand and the dog sniffed it and its small tail started to gyrate wildly. His whole back end wiggled with the tail.

"I used to have a dog just like this when I was a kid." He told the woman next to him. He smiled at her and noticed she was somehow younger, but still the same person, just not so elderly. He didn't let it bother him, he was getting old and his mind played tricks on him all the time now.

"He's a nice little dog, Dave." She smiled as she stood, holding out her hand and taking his in it. He took her hand and stood, without any problem with his old knees.

"Let's take a walk." He agreed with her, not letting go of the dog or her hand. He felt comfortable with her for some reason. He liked her. For the first time in the last two years he felt really comfortable with someone other than his departed wife.

They had such a wonderful life together. He could remember when they got engaged, in a park just like this one. The park was in a different state but was just as nice. More woods though. He could remember when they had a picnic lunch and then sat and watched the geese swim on the pond. They threw some crusts of the bread to them and watched as they suddenly changed directions to go after the food when it hit the water. The sun glinted off the pond as they walked around it.

Stopping at a clump of trees he turned, knelt down and took her hand in his. Her eyes sparkled when he opened the small box with the simple gold band in it. He could not afford anything better.

"It's okay, we'll do with what we have to." She had been so understanding. They had scraped and saved to send him to college, then pharmacy school. He would get to take over his grandfather's store. His grandfather was gone now, but Grandma was still around. She helped him out in the store and kept the house clean along with Sarah.

They walked along the path amongst the trees and stopped at the pond. Still holding hands they sat on the bank and watched as the small dog barked at the geese out in the water and raced along the shore. The birds would paddle themselves one way and then another. The dog barking and sprinting up and down, a long distance chase.

Dave looked at the woman and saw the old fashioned dress she was wearing. She was no longer old.

"We had such fun here, even after the baby died." Dave nodded. Remembering their first born, and how it had been so sick when they first saw it. The doctor told them what it had but he didn't really care. It was so tiny, small pink limbs flailing as it tried to breath.

"It won't make it through the night." The doctor said as he held the stethoscope to its tiny chest. "I'm sorry."

It had been a long night for them. Sarah was doing fine after the birth. She sat up with him until the small thing lay still in the crib. There was nothing that could be done for it. Nurses came in and they kissed it goodbye as they sat and watched them fold the blanket over its tiny body.

"Do you remember when Jennifer was born?" Their second, she was such a strong baby. "She was so strong willed. She would take on anyone that stood in her way."

He could see her now, walking down the aisle after accepting her graduation certificate. He had been so proud of her.

"Dad, I'll always be proud to have been your daughter." Was the last part of her speech in front of all the other graduates receiving their diplomas. She had given the valedictorian speech.

She had followed in his footsteps for his sake, wanting to make him proud. He didn't insist that she take over the business, she did. After school, she was married to Tom after only two months of knowing each other.

Dave and Sarah kept their opinions to themselves as they saw their daughter getting married. Her in the same dress David's grandmother and mother had been married in, now it was altered to fit Jen. They were sure that it was love, both stubborn and single minded. But with plenty of smiles and love for each other that Dave and Sarah were sure they could stay together for years.

Now he watched his own daughter marry and start her own family. After Thomas had been in the store for a few hours he started to make notes on that small thing he carried. Dave didn't understand computers that much and didn't trust them.

But he had to use them, most of his business now used them and he got so many orders now over the internet. Tom looked around the store and took notes, then spent a few days buried in the stores office, looking things up.

"Dad, its okay if I call you that isn't it." David nodded and smiled. "Well, I took business in school, as you know. I think we can get yours going better. Not to say you haven't done right with how you're running it. But, we could try a few things and make some more money. You've done great with it, now we can make it better. Or if you want we can leave it alone and I'll butt out. Just a few suggestions and see what you think. How about it?"

He had to smile. In no time flat he had wormed his way into the business and had it running even smoother than Dave could have managed. He was glad to have the help. Things like the computer he now had to have and the myriad of new drugs, he had to have help with all of it.

Thomas wanted to help and improve the place, not take it over. But he could tell Jennifer wasn't quite happy as a pharmacist. They discussed it and came to their father for advice. In three years she was graduating from medical school, and ready to take on all those big shot doctors.

Thomas stayed in the family business, nurturing it along and helping Dave run it. They still helped all their customers, home delivery for those that couldn't make it to the store. Late night calls about what something would do if it was spilled in the cat's water and he drank it. Chatting with the older folks as they waited for their prescriptions. Tom was there to help both Dave and the customers.

Now they ran the store with help from their son, David, named after the grandfather. He was twelve now, he could sweep and vacuum, dust the shelves, stock items in the store. He was glad to help and proud when he learned something new to help the store run.

"Dave, the family's not worried anymore. They understand you had to leave and it was time." Sarah smiled as she said it. Dave no longer wondered who this woman was or what she was doing with him, he understood it all. They walked along the shoreline and Scruff chased the geese along the shore, both staying in their element.

"Thomas, I'm going for a walk, I'll be back in a little while." He had told Tom as he slowly walked out the store and headed down the block. Taking his time and watching traffic, he had made his way to the park and saw the bench at its familiar place in the middle of all the trees and grass, flowers and animals.

Thomas had been concerned but understood that it could be anytime now and that Dave could take care of himself till then. He went back to taking care of the customer that had come in for something. He was watching the new pharmacist carefully but not too much so. Dave could see he was very careful about who he let into the business he had taken over from his grandfather and would do right by it.

David quite worrying about what was in store for his daughter and son, they could definitely take care of their family and everything would be alright. He had done his best and they were off to a great start. The drug store business was booming, Jennifer had a good pediatric clinic and their second child was now five. It was a shame that Jen could have no more, but she said they would settle for two.

She was so busy with all of it. He smiled as he thought of her at the birth of their last one. She actually told the nurse to call her newly opened clinic to tell them she would be late. Like she would have the kid, take a shower and go to work, all in the same afternoon. Just like his daughter.

He smiled as he finally remembered what his mother looked like. Almost like Jennifer, not the same, but almost. He could see them now clearly. His dad was in uniform, his mom in a simple dress. Jennifer had taken after his mom. Now little David, he could see the likeness in him to his father. And grandfather.

Walking and holding hands, they moved slowly up the hill toward the large brick wall. He didn't remember one being here, but he didn't let it bother him. He felt no pain at all from any of the things that had been continually bothering him lately.

He also felt no panic and was feeling a soothing calm generating from the hand holding this other woman's. He saw now that it was his departed wife but this did not bother him in the least.

They walked toward the gate and saw the line at it. Getting to their place they both smiled as they had to wait their turn. No one complained as more came behind them and stood to wait. They each waited and walked forward when their time came, talking to the old man and then going through the gate when they were done with him.

When it was David's turn he turned o look next to him and see Sarah. She had been waiting for him and now they were reunited.

"Welcome David, It's good to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you."

Shaking hands with the man did no justice to his title. David walked past with Sarah and strolled in, Scruff scampering at their feet.