There was a girl at school who was courting me. We sat at the same desk and often went to lunch together. Sometimes she would watch lovingly while we ate, ask if I liked this or that, might share something, and I would share something else with her in return. She liked to sigh languidly and say, “When we grow up and get married…” – and add what would happen then. Who would cook for whom, how many children we would have, where we would go, and so on.
I understand that this was a youthful maximalism, but when you get older, and I with my personal life is not good, you begin to realize that now it would be a good idea to marry that very girl.
Recently ran into her and my some hopes and dreams were bursting.
I am a professional tree trimmer. A dusty job, not promising at first glance, but I’m always in good shape and on the money. I have a schedule months in advance, not everyone can get to me. So I worked part-time for a rich man-a mansion, a huge yard, and a cherry orchard in the backyard. The first two days I talked and saw only the owner, and on the last day of work his wife came back from somewhere. He immediately wanted to introduce her to me, to show me off, so to speak. And it was her. She was my classmate.
She looked even prettier, and just looking at her brought back warm memories. She recognized me too, told my husband that we were former classmates, and talked to me nicely. Maybe it was our past, but my heart just flashed in my chest with sympathy for her. I would have married her for sure, if only she wasn’t already married and glowing with happiness next to her husband.
I didn’t give her my number, lying that I had a jealous girlfriend and didn’t work for her husband anymore – I pretended to be busy a couple of times and recommended another worker. I don’t want to see my childhood friend, because I’m starting to regret even more that she was just joking around then, and I didn’t think to take matters into my own hands and start dating her while we were in school.
