A Chance Meeting

          Denise slowly walked, with her cane, down the corridor of the mall's locker area to the women's restroom. After she came back out, she proceeded to the jewelry store window and stared and dreamed. The engagement rings and wedding sets caught her eye. She did not know why this would be since she disdained the concept of marriage.

          As Denise looked at the sparkling, precious gems, emotions were starting to get the best of her. She tried to look away, but tears overcame her face. She quickly wiped them away and started for the nearest bench to sit down. While sitting there, she stared and her mind started to wander. The first memory that flashed was when she was talking about getting married to her first husband. She thought she was truely in love. She and Perry had known each other for over twelve years. In reality, she did not know him at all. The wedding set they purchased was $350. That was all they could afford. Denise was not materialistic, so this did not matter to her.

          The marriage only lasted five years and she ended up taking the engagement ring and wedding ring and making a new ring out of it. The gold setting was in the shape of a "V" for victory. She thought that very appropo at the time. She now had the ring in a special place for her son, if he chose to give it to a special girl later on.

          While she was lost in thought, a hand touched her shoulder. Denise's immediate instinct was to grab her purse and hold onto it and scream. While she was grabbing her purse, a familiar voice greeted her.

         "Nice to see you again. How are you doing?"

          Denise could not believe her eyes. Before her stood someone who she had not seen in nine years and thought had dropped off the face of the earth. Before her was her ex-husband, Perry. Seeing him stirred a host of emotions. Her hair stood on end. She had chills running down her back. She felt like she was on pins and needles. Her eyes were as big as dinner platters, and her mouth was ajar.

         "What are you doing here? Did you get tired of the mall in Midland? Do you finally have a car? Or did you give up your driver's license?"

         "I am here with a friend of mine, and we drove here together. I still drive, but I do not have a car. My friend needed to pick something up at one of the stores here."

          Perry answers to Denise's questions were very elusive. It made her wonder if he was deliberately avoiding telling her that he was involved with another woman. If he was, that would not matter to her in the least. Too much time had passed and there was no love or other feelings left, at least not on her part. Just as Denise was going to ask the ultimate question, a song came over the loudspeaker. The song was "After All" by Cher and Peter Cetera. That was their song. The emotion was too much for Denise to take. She got up and left.