She looks so sad, Bob observed from the door. He wanted to reach out and touch her soothingly but knew he could not. She has to move on from this. I don’t want her to be so alone. Jan suddenly looked up and her gaze went right through Bob. Her lips parted to speak but she didn’t speak. She turned back to her computer screen. Bob decided he should leave now. He wanted to speak to his new friend.
Bob moved swiftly to the lake, calling for Betty. For a time, he’d been alone at the lake. He didn’t mind because he had time to think. He didn’t like what had happened to his life and had brooded frequently, rejecting the counsel of several who also visited the lake. They realized that he just wasn’t ready to listen and withdrew.
When Betty appeared one day, lost and confused, he said “Hello. Don’t worry. This is a nice place to be.” As they spoke, he realized that Betty was like him. She didn’t like what had happened in her life, either, and the two had commiserated. Sometimes they also shared dreams they had had. “I know we can do these things now,” Bob told her, “but I can’t go yet. I’m too worried about Jan.”
Betty nodded in understanding. “I’m worried about Matt.”
“We have to do something,” Bob decided. He had come to the realization that he would not be able to change what happened. It was time to move on but he wanted to make sure Jan would be all right.
“You know what I was thinking?” Betty began thoughtfully. “You’re an awful lot like Matt.”
“I am?” Bob was surprised. “Jan is a little bit like you,” he added. He wasn’t sure that was true but he wanted to believe it might be.
“If your wife is like me and my husband is like you, they might like each other,” Betty ventured carefully, looking into Bob’s eyes.
“Ah.” Bob looked away, thinking. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He and Jan were soul mates. They were meant to be together.
“I think that Matt and I were soul mates, too,” Betty whispered. “But we can’t be together any more. Isn’t it better this way?”
“You’re right,” Bob decided. He felt much better now, clapping his hands together. “Well! How are we going to do this?”
Betty leaned forward to whisper into his ear.
Oh, this is fairly useless! Jan thought to herself. She had a wide circle of friends but was terribly lonely. She could feel a throbbing ache in her heart where Bob had been. I miss you, she thought miserably. She had an urge to check her email and tried to resist, preferring to sink further into self-pity. It felt satisfying to do that occasionally. Her shoulder jerked, as if pushed. Surprised, she found herself opening her account.
There was another profile there from cyberdate.com and she sighed. I resigned my membership, she thought irritably, and here they’re still sending me profiles of guys who are lechs and losers. The trouble is that my membership is paid in full until the rest of the month and so they’re going to keep sending me these things. Her finger moved toward the delete key and stopped.
Amazed, she watched herself open the profile. She scanned the information there. Here was a man her age who loved photography, going on walks, reading, and listening to music. Wow! Jan thought, hooked. She read on. He was a non-smoker, spiritual, romantic, and he didn’t go for the formal scene. He liked picnics and movies. This is too good to be true!
He wanted to meet someone who lived close by, within 25 miles. Jan’s lips twisted into a grim, wry smile. She knew that she lived much further away than that. They didn’t even live in the same state! I knew it was too good to be true, she thought, her finger moving to the delete key again.
No! Wait! Bob cried out frantically. Give the guy a chance!
Jan looked around. “Bob?” She thought she’d heard him but it was impossible. Her finger moved toward the delete key again and paused. This fellow does sound a lot like Bob. Maybe I should give him a chance. At the very least, I could make a new friend. She began to compose a post.
Check your email! Matt’s eyes flew open and he automatically reached for his alarm clock. It hadn’t gone off yet. He could just make out the shapes in his room. The fan he kept on overnight for company whirred noisily. Who was that? It sounded oddly like Betty but of course it couldn’t be. As he snapped on his lamp, he heard the digital tones of his computer starting up. Had he left it on all night?
He plopped wearily into his chair and fiddled with the settings so that the screen came on. He was so tired of being alone but he was also losing patience with trying to make a connection with someone else. He’d already decided to abandon cyberdate.com; he wasn’t having any luck with it. “You have mail,” he said along with his mail server. What now? He opened the post from the stranger and began to read.
“So what do you think?” Betty asked eagerly. She threw some manna crumbs to the ducks in the lake.
“Looking good!” Bob exclaimed enthusiastically. He moved to give her a high five and Betty threw her hand up to meet his. “I don’t have to worry about Jan anymore.”
“And I don’t need to worry about Matt,” Betty echoed. “What are you going to do now?”
“I’m going to the celestial library,” Bob replied with a big smile. “You?”
“I do believe I will take Margaret’s offer up to be her assistant in the Tiny Angel Nursery,” Betty answered. “I love babies. I was never one for reading.”
“Me neither because I worked with computers all day and my eyes were so tired all the time. But now, my eyes won’t get tired especially since the reading involves the writer’s thoughts.”
“That’s amazing!” Betty said, impressed. She and Bob began to walk away from the lake. “Would you let me know if Dr. Berry Hazelton writes another book about baby’s development?”
“Sure.” Matt hesitated a moment.
Betty stopped beside him. They both turned back to look.
As if through a window, they watched Jan pull up to a McDonald’s restaurant in a brand new van. The van pulled up next to a blue Ford Taurus. Three adolescents hopped out of the van, looking around awkwardly. Jan opened the car door, carrying a stuffed Easter bunny, and moved around to the Taurus where Matt was just beginning to get out.
“It’s funny how time moves here, isn’t it?” Matt observed.
“I like it,” Betty said approvingly. “I’ll never be late now.” Her eyes grew soft. “I am so glad that we were able to bring them together.”
“Me too,” Bob said. “I loved her so much and I know she had so much love to give. It would have been a waste of her life not to do it.”
“And his,” Betty agreed.
An inner force moved them away from their loved ones in the McDonald’s parking lot. Now that they could let go, they felt an urgency to soar into their new world.
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