Ten Years

   We met them on the bridge in the west part of the city that was how we found out that he had a girlfriend. Sally, that was her name, was a fair-complexioned girl with a straight fringe. She seemed to be of French decent or probably she just liked to dress in a French style. We actually never asked her. We had a relaxed chat waiting for Avery, Larry’s and my mutual friend. She was stuck somewhere in traffic. We could see the cars that were moving slowly along the freeway. After a while when Avery finally came, we were obviously distracted from this small talk. Carter planned to come too but closer to midnight so that day we met him later. It was time to go.

   Larry and Sally met each other in the drawing circle… First, they didn’t pay much attention to each other… especially Sally. It was a difficult time for her because of her break-up with her boyfriend. Then she and Larry little by little started to be friends. They started their relationship later on and then one day he didn’t get to class. She wondered and sent a message, then phoned him, and then left an email but he didn’t answer. Two days later, she took one of her classmate’s phone and called him. Finally, he picked up a phone and she heard his voice…
A few years later, I moved to the nearby town and met him there. He married Allison or Ariana… I didn’t remember her name for sure, but that marriage wasn’t a happy one, so after a while they quickly separated and the same year he travelled to Asia.

   Once every few weeks I met Avery. In the last few years, she had several changes in her life. One of which was that she didn’t enjoy her academic life at all so she left after just six months. She had a variety of jobs but after some time she found herself in singing.

   Sally and Larry never got married. According to Carter’s words, they met each other by accident three years later during her parent’s visit to the town and that was one huge mistake. That time Carter was very depressed by his own lack of success in journalism. He couldn’t help anyone even himself. Later on he felt guilty but then he came back to his native country and we have never ever seen him again.

   They always came here together and we usually wondered where they came from each time. They never turned on music loud and never made much noise around them. They usually took several journals with them and ordered a couple of sandwiches in a local restaurant. The annoying wind blew through the leaves of the trees from time to time blowing them down. Their checkered bedding was in sharp contrast among the grass. That was an early autumn and it was mostly warm which was wonderful for the area where rainy weather was more appropriate for this season. In the backyard of the restaurant that was close to the tennis court, we had a place that somehow distantly resembling a gazebo where the staff came to smoke. Sally’s light purple lipstick blended nicely with her pale skin. The external similarity of these two women suggested to us that the woman that was with her was her mother. They visited the place many times all summer long but when they left this place for the last time Sally left her diary in the grass. We found it but she never came back to this place again. The same year we saw her photographs in a journal and found out her address. We sent the diary there, but she has never answered.               


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