Neither Rain, nor Snow, nor Sleet. #FFfAW

He was always at this park on Saturdays.  I’d notice him whenever I took my dog for the nightly walk.  After I’d lived here for about nine months, I noticed the weather didn’t matter.  He was here every Saturday evening, and only Saturday evenings.

His clothing was shabby; his cheeks, red.  I imagined on the nights I didn’t see him, he must stay at the shelter.  One night I stopped to talk.

“Hey, I’m Fran.  Isn’t it a little cold to be out here?”

“Doesn’t bother me.  My lady and I, we’d come here every Saturday night.  I can picture here right there.  We’d sit on that bench.”  Shivering, he showed me a smiling photo of her on that bench.

“When is the date over?”  I asked, worried he might freeze.

He looked at a broken wrist-watch.  “Half an hour.”

“I don’t think she’d mind leaving early.  It’s a bit cold.  Can I walk you to the shelter?”

He shrugged and smiled sadly.  “Yeah, there’s soup.  Maybe she’ll show up next week.”

**172 words

***The challenge is to write a short piece of flash fiction in response to a provided picture prompt of 100-150 words (+ or – 25 words, thank goodness :)).  You can view other stories or jun the fun at FFfAW.

Thank you for stopping by on a snowy evening!  You never know the difference you could make.  Of course, it is not snowy here, but I can imagine.