Emergence
The eerie sound of waves from the bay, the darkness of the night, the emergence of moonlight all saddened an already strange evening. The lapping sound from the concrete bulkhead was lost as two lovers held hands and kissed gently.
Far too soon she broke the embrace and released his hand.
'So, you’re really leaving,' he said.
'I have to. My job, my career, my future, are in New York.'
'It could be our future,' he replied, an entreaty really. A plea for her to find a way.
'I could find a job with NYPD. I’m a good cop. Certainly they could use me.'
The woman chuckled softly. 'You, a big city detective? You’ve never even been to the city. Out here you’re the big shot. In New York, you’d be just one of two thousand detectives. Here in Cape Town is where your future lies. Someday you’ll be chief of police.'
The man brushed way a tear and stifled a sob. The moon slid behind a cloud and the night drew dark and ominous again. Hope ebbed from his soul. His love was actually going home.
Over the past month they had used up all the words. From the chance meeting at the funeral of her childhood friend, to a cup of coffee, to morning jogs together, his loneliness melted away.
The first time they made love, he said her name and became a whole man for the first time.
Neither of them was surprised when he proposed but her other life held her back. 'Sure,' she thought to herself, 'I can find a job here.' But the excitement of the city called to her. Her position as an assistant vice president to the CEO of a two billion dollar corporation offered her power, prestige and, yes, money.
After the proposal she walked the avenues of the small town. She smiled at the bungalows surrounded by white picket fences while children ran, played and laughed in the park. She tried to imagine a life in this small piece of Eden.
'The wife,' she thought, 'of the police chief of a force of 5 officers.' She almost said 'big deal' to herself but swallowed the thought because she did love him.
Yet.
She closed her eyes and flashed forward five years and watched her toddler, maybe two, splashing in the bay, seeing a house smaller than her apartment, and a 8 year old pickup in the driveway.
'Damn! Love is supposed to conquer all.'
The flashback took her by surprise. Four years of college, two more years to get an MBA and still she had to settle for being a secretary to a minor department head. Her ambitions in life drove her hard. She became the 'go to gal.'
'Yes I can,' she told them. 'Of course I will. Whatever you need, whenever you need it.' The young guns in the corporation noticed her and they called on her for help which she gladly gave. Promotions came more and more frequent. Her salary skyrocketed.
Now she was considering throwing it away for a guy she had known for a month.
Her reverie melted away when he touched her arm. 'Come back to me.'
She touched his hand and started up the path to the parking lot.
'I thought we had something,' he said more to the bay than to her.
The evening breeze blew her response across the water, 'I did too.'
Abou the author
Mr. Tobin has a degree in mathematics and is retired. He writes in various genres including science fiction, horror, speculative, and westerns. Most recently, CultureCult, The Broken Spine, Paragraph Planet, and The Marbled Sigh have published his work.
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