Windows

ROMANCE

Across the street lay a house. In that house was a

window. In that window was a girl. And that girl spent

long hours looking out at the world from her window.

On the other side of the street was another house. It

also had a window. In that window was a boy. He also

spent long hours looking out from his window. But, he

spent most of these long hours looking out from his

window and into the window across the street with the

girl in it.

Then one day he went and knocked on the door in the

house across the street.

The girl opened it and they both smiled.

Stars were birthed and universes formed in rolling

cosmic thunder that echoes great, booming heartbeats.

The great tides of the world lifted and rose like great

lungs sucking in life. And the boy and girl kissed under a

full moon on a warm summer night.

Years later they got married. The girl, who was now a

woman, gave birth to a beautiful boy and they lived as a

happy family for many years. Yes, there were fights. Yes,

like anyone else, occasionally there was crying. But, for

the most part, that man and that woman and their little

boy lived happy.

But one day the baby boy, who was now a young man,

moved out and into the big wide world.

Time passed and the woman and her husband grew old.

Stars cooled down as entropy spread chill through

universes that began to forget the cosmic thunder and

the dimming echoes of a heartbeat. The tides of the

world lifted just a little less each time that rose against

the shores. The air was getting dark and quiet.

Then one day the old man passed away. And, after the

funeral, after the tears, and after all the family and

friends had left, the old woman sat all alone in her old

house looking out from her old window.

She would spend many hours looking out from that

window rubbing her old, tired hands. She would spend

many hours looking out that window thinking of that little

boy who so many years ago knocked on her door.

But then one day there was no one in that window in

that house on that street. One day it was empty and

neither filled with longing nor happiness nor sadness.

One day it was just quiet, the cosmic thunder and the

tides had all gone out with the old woman.

And somewhere, somehow out there, the old man heard

a knock on his door. He opened it. The old woman was

standing there and they both smiled.