"From Afar" - short story
She met him 17 years ago. He was 11, she was 9; he was in 5th grade, she was in 4th. She watched him win the school's Spelling Bee, and it made her smile. Shy though she was, she mustered up all of her courage to congratulate him afterwards. He said: "thank you," and they parted.
She watched him from afar for several years afterwards. He always seemed so bohemian; cool in that "I don't care what you think" kind of way. They walked home from school together once. As she watched him walk towards his house she took a mental photograph of the Japanese lanterns* that were at her feet. She was 12, he was 14.
They ended up graduating from high school the same year and on their separate ways they went. He went off to pursue his dreams and she was sent off to pursue hers. He was a confident young adult; she was a scared teenage girl.
She didn't think of him for many years. The shy, timid girl had now become a confident, refined woman. She remembered her youth as it had been, 1400 miles away. She looked, and he was found. He was 28, she was 26. As they walked together in the Japanese Gardens, he told her that she had been watched from afar, as well. It made her smile.
*seeds of the Physalis plant
She watched him from afar for several years afterwards. He always seemed so bohemian; cool in that "I don't care what you think" kind of way. They walked home from school together once. As she watched him walk towards his house she took a mental photograph of the Japanese lanterns* that were at her feet. She was 12, he was 14.
They ended up graduating from high school the same year and on their separate ways they went. He went off to pursue his dreams and she was sent off to pursue hers. He was a confident young adult; she was a scared teenage girl.
She didn't think of him for many years. The shy, timid girl had now become a confident, refined woman. She remembered her youth as it had been, 1400 miles away. She looked, and he was found. He was 28, she was 26. As they walked together in the Japanese Gardens, he told her that she had been watched from afar, as well. It made her smile.
*seeds of the Physalis plant