A SMALL ONE!

The neatly set dinner table and the carefully folded red chequered napkins were a perfect tell-tale of how important this dinner was for him. It is just once a year that he gets to meet her anymore and for him, everything has to be perfect as it can be on this day.

A cruel yet exciting wait ensued now as the clock ticked incessantly. Every second felt like an hour. A really, long boring hour without seeing her. He gently sat down in his usual chair and closed his eyes with a reminiscing smile and a long heavy breath. “This time I need to ask her this question and I am not letting her go without an answer,” he thought to himself with a firm chuckle.

“Harley dear” she used to call for him with her sweet but stern voice. A sound so close and cherished by him that for long he used to hear it even when she wasn’t there next to him. The voice of his beloved sweet Claire.

He lost track of time as he immersed himself with a child-like excitement in the beautiful memories that they had cherished and created together. His eyes and lips going through the motions as if he was living through them now.

And then it happened in an instant. He felt it as strong and soothing as the cool summer breeze. Her presence was unmistakable. She was here at last. How could he not know?

“You have come!” Harley said as he opened his eyes and lurched forward in his chair, with the widest grin a man could ever have.

“Just as I promised,” she smiled, looking into his eyes as he spoke.

“You look as radiant as the time I saw you last year, my love”

“Not doing too bad yourself” she smiled as she sat down facing Harley on the opposite side of the table.

A perfectly groomed and confident woman, Claire was the balance that was needed in Harley’s rough life. A love story fit for the theatres, it was a tale of friendship, fights, and feelings that every couple would wish for. Harley, a seasoned war veteran had a knack of getting into trouble at every corner of life, and Claire, the calm and composed one, was the person that toned him down.

She was the only one that knew his true dark past, the place that he came from. She truly sympathized and cared for him with genuine selfless love. But it was just not meant to last forever. If only he knew when this had all started how soon this was going to end.

“So, what have you been up to,” she asked him quizzing, as she reached out to open the closed plates of food. The grub wasn’t the best in town but that alone rarely makes dinners special. It was who was in front that mattered.

“Am doing well. Fit enough to run after you as I did all those years ago” Harley muttered shyly, as he gently pressed his fork onto the plate and tasted the menu for the day.

He still felt the same pounding of his heart as the day that he met her, almost shy even to speak his mind. But this time, he had to get an answer out of her. It has been a long, painful wait and it wasn’t worth it to continue like this anymore. Not for another year.

“I have something that I want to ask you” he muttered

“Not this again Harley. I have already told you that I can’t” she said

“But you don’t understand how much I miss you, Claire. How much I want to be with you”

“There is a time for that Harley. Until then you need to follow what I have always been saying” she said, a little more sternly than she intended, as Harley slumped into his chair with disappointment.

“Take me with you, Claire,” he asked her again with urgency in his voice, eyes full of hope, yet the heart having a sinking feeling of knowing the reply. Something all too familiar for him over the years.

Just as she was about to answer, a loud knock on the door interrupted their meal.

A middle-aged woman walked into the room hurriedly, followed by a young assistant close at her heels. They wore the same dress. Harley was so tired of seeing them wear this. They needed to learn how to dress well from Claire. “Someday I am going to tell them this” he muttered to himself

“How are we doing today Harley,” asked the older woman in a high-pitched, excited tone. Smiling as she scribbled on the pad resting on her hand. Dr.Helena Greene loved to interact with her patients at a more personal level, she believed it will help them heal faster.

“Doing good Helena. Just having dinner with Claire. It is her birthday you know” he said excitedly, pointing in front of his chair.

“That is so sweet Harley. Tell her I wished her a very happy birthday. You must tell me more about her someday” she said.

“But right now, we are already running very late for your weekly tests, we need you downstairs now. We won’t take that long” she continued in a sweet, reassuring voice.

Turning away from the table, Dr.Greene pointed at Harley and spoke in a more hush voice.

“He is almost 100, our oldest patient on campus. So please be very gentle” she whispered to her new assistant, who swiftly moved to transfer him into a wheelchair.

“Goodbye, my love. I can’t wait to see you again” said Harley looking at the sweet face of Claire for one last time this year, as he was gently wheeled away from the room.

As Dr.Greene turned to leave the now empty room she couldn’t help wonder who this Claire was in Harley’s life. A long-lost chapter of a hundred-year-old book that she will never come to know. It’s funny how in each of our books of life, we are the protagonist while others become mere side characters, she thought, as she switched the lights off and closed the door behind her.

The empty room and the plates of food now lay still in a pitch dark blanket of silence.

And then, the chair moved.