Together We Walk

By Madison Simone

My eyes faded open to a soft spring light shining beneath my curtains. 

“Thanks be to God for another day!” I said, admiring the world of people behind the glass window, a gate in which I have access to enter and humbly will so. 

Beyond this gate is an opportunity for collection, and I have lived a life long filling my basket of what I can take with me on my final day. 

The timer of my flesh had begun once my pancreas fell ill, but for as long as my body allows, I shall walk.

The day will shortly come when Heaven opens its gates to me, my knees bashing against the floor, a gentle hand reaching for my heart. I will come with empty hands and a shackle of souls, for I was called to anything but a life of separateness. 

After washing up and fixing myself some breakfast, I put on my morning jacket and headed into town, whereas it appeared, every day, the people had been awake before the birds.

Just as the sun found its comfortable spot in the sky, the vendors of the town had set up shop and opened for the day’s business. Carts, some of vegetables and fruits, others of coats and scarves, lined both sides of the street. People poured in from every which direction, smaller bunches moving in-sync towards the same destination. 

I took my usual route, passing the meat shack first, then cutting across the street towards the brightest blue door just off the sidewalk. With a few steps to go, the door swung open, Theodor anticipating my daily arrival. 

“Morning, old man,” Theodor said, patting my back as walk together.

I let out an assertive, yet cheerful “Ha!” and returned the back slaps. “Look who’s talking,” I said. 

Theodor had been a good friend of mine for some years now. He’s got wrinkles around his eyes, bad knees, and distinctive lines carved in his mouth from years of smiles. When I walk the town with Theodor in the mornings, I sometimes imagine we’re in our 20’s again, back before the map of our past had been etched into our faces, back when we had dark hair to slick back and the girls would swish their skirts in our direction, hinting at the dance floor. Instead of early mornings, there were late nights that turned into early mornings, and dancing and laughter that heightened the forever life in youthful hearts. 

Together, Theodor and I walk, just as we once had then, each step perfectly paced towards the vendor stands. We took 10 steps north, and 4 more steps slightly east, for Theodor knew me to stop at the fruit stand. When we arrived, I picked up an apple and pretended it had been my stomach’s craving, while Theodor checked out the vegetables from a nearby stand. 

“Well, Hello, Mr. Arthur.” I heard the familiar soft voice of a young woman and smiled before turning my head.

“Good morning, young lady. The sun sure is bright today, don’t you think?” I said. 

“Sure is,” Teresa said. She looked at the apple in my hand. “Switching it up today, Mr. Arthur?” 

“Well, no, I just didn’t see—” I said. 

She bent under the back of the stand and pulled out a small bunch of blackberries.

“We didn’t get a lot in this week, so I made sure to save you some before someone else could grab them,” she said with a warm smile. 

As always, she dismissed my money and sat down beside me, near the edge of the sidewalk, and spoke of the young man she had met a few summers ago. 

“Oh, Mr. Arthur, I do believe you would love him as much as I!” she said, twiddling with the bracelet he had given her. “If all goes as it should, he will finish up school in two more years, get a fair job in the bank, and then he will come back to me, I know it,” she said.

I put my pointer finger to my chin and contemplated. “Young lady, you have journeyed through a summer walking alongside this man, but to what of your knowledge does he continue to walk with you?”

Teresa pondered over my words, deep in thought and confusion, without saying much. I could tell she liked the wise, critical perspective I always took, because even as her face sometimes fell flat, she continued to seek my blessing. I did not mind when she talked about her life with me, and as a matter of fact, I looked forward to it. 

She’d been selling fruit here since she was a child, so I had often passed her in the mornings. She was typically alone, sometimes with her mother, but never a father. I didn’t ask many questions, and all that I knew of her was from her word and my eyes. 

I enjoyed our daily exchange of a listening ear and insight for some fruit and company so, that I offered her my gentle hand as an invitation to walk with me.

And so, we continued, Theodor, Teresa, and I, walking through the town with fruit-filled stomachs, heading towards the well for some fresh water. 

Together we walk, passed Nonna selling fish and Teddy waving as he swept the streets. They too walk with us, though my interactions had never moved past a smile and a wave, and maybe one or two enlightening conversations. Nonna knew Teresa for much longer than I had, and Teddy met Theodor playing cards one night. Still, together, we walk. 

Just as we neared the well, and Teddy began cupping his hands for others to drink from, I caught a glimpse of a familiar faced woman, and thought my mind had played with my vision. I didn’t stop walking, but I did look back swiftly, knowing I could never redirect myself to move backwards, nor in the same direction in which she moved, ever again. 

“Meredith Holly,” I whispered to myself, with a smile that held both happiness and pain. Her hair was grey and frail, and a few teeth from her mouth were missing. Her cheeks were droopier now, and her eye sockets were more squinted, only a sliver of her green eyes shining through the lids. Her lids, I thought of as a gate in which I once had access to enter through, and humbly did so. 

Teresa noticed my thoughts were distant and asked, “Mr. Arthur, do you know that woman? If so, I may ask her to walk with us.”

I smiled and turned towards Teresa. “I do not know that woman. No, not since we were teenagers. I had walked with her then, though we have found our own ways.”

“Oh,” she said, staring past Nonna, who was cleaning the dirt from Theodor’s feet. After a period of silence, Teresa said, “Mr. Arthur?”

“Yes, young lady,” I said.

“Do you wish you could walk with her again?” she asked.

I looked away from her for a moment, smiling towards the ground before meeting her eyes again. “I will be honest; I loved our walks together. Not a day went by that I didn’t walk with that woman! But the seasons had changed, and she did not like to walk when it got cold. So, we stopped walking,” I said.

“But, Mr. Arthur, do you wish you could again? If your walks with her were special, don’t you wish you could go back? Pick up where you left off?” Teresa said.

I turned behind me on my path, far in distance, and looked at Meredith. Her long brown hair swayed with the subtle blow of the wind and her innocent glowing smile spoke of gratitude. The wrinkles on her face were ironed out, her green eyes alive with love again.

Then I remembered the day I was forced to remove her from my collection, leaving an empty nook in my basket that I hadn’t prepared for. We were naive kids playing with fragile assets, but we weren’t aware at the time. 

“There is forgiveness and gratitude in my heart for those who have led me to shift directions into an array of newcomers, but no, I do not wish to pick up where things were left, as there is nothing to pick up. Our walk together is done, I believe,” I said, then bent over to sip water from Teddy.

As the water flooded through my body, I thought again about my final day and what I was allowed to bring. 

“Do you wish to bring Meredith Holly?” He will say.

I will think about it for a minute, remembering the time we walked together, and nod my head “yes” before saying aloud, “No.” She deserves to go, but not with me. After all, if it wasn’t for her, I may never have met those I journey with now. 

As I pulled away from Teddy, Nonna wiped my mouth dry, and we began our descent home. I walked right next to Theodor, Teresa slightly off to my side, and Nonna and Teddy further in diameter. 

Together we walk, back past the well, the vegetables, and meats. We walk past Nonna who smiles, and past the fruit stand, where Teresa was hiding the last of her blackberries for me. We walk past the brightest blue door, where my old friend Theodor used to live and reign. 

Together we walk, miles apart. We moved west and south, until we arrived at my house. Before walking in, I paused to take one last look at the lively town and all its people. I stood isolated at my doorstep, thanked God for another day well spent, and, with a humble gratitude, left the scene of the town. 

I took off my jacket and stepped into my bed, the pain in my stomach demanding to be felt. Before I slept, I called my daughter to hear about her children. 

She told me the little one was playing sports and the older breaking hearts. 

“They will find their way. They will find their people,” I said.

“I’m sure of it, father,” she said, and I could hear her footsteps align with mine before I shut my eyes and closed my shackle. 

By Madison Simone