Beyond That, the Sea

by Laura Spence-Ash

She’s anxious for them to leave, but she knows she will spend all day waiting for them to return.

It’s fear, made real. Before the declaration of war, it looms over everything, a heavy weight, a constant worry. But once your country is at war, it’s a concrete thing that bores its way in, that never leaves.

And you both disappeared even as you stayed by my side.

Better, always, to protect one’s heart.

Chock Full o’Nuts, Gerald says, looking up at the sign. William, they named the place after you.

She wants each moment to last and not to rush too quickly on to the next.

She’s the caretaker. How she hates it when people want to take care of her.

A need to scramble back in time, to pull up old memories, to regret words, to re-create moments.

you look back, it’s so easy to see the path that you’ve traveled. But looking forward, there are only dreams and fears.

We love people for all sorts of different reasons and in all sorts of different ways, she says. Remember that. And it only gets better, the older you get. Young love isn’t necessarily the best love.