Once Upon a Star: the story of Grace

I sat on the chair at the veranda looking into the distance. The road so far away seemed to mock me with its emptiness. The house was sited at the end of the meandering path that lead to the road. The way was just clear enough for me to look out towards where I could see the occasional cars pass by.
The wooden house surrounded by tall trees and a paddy field was very quiet. It was lonely as there were no houses nearby. This gave me a secluded feeling, a lonely alone-ness in the middle of nowhere.
Sitting there my book on my lap, I delved into memories and walked down memory lane.
It was during a sunset that I met him, the man I married, the man I gave my whole life to. I was sitting on a park bench looking at the beautiful sunset. The blazing hues in the horizon painted my world with colours. I wanted to embrace the beauty, to keep it forever in my heart and burn it into my soul’s eyes. That was a moment when I wanted to shout ‘   behold the glory of God’.
I was jolted to reality by a falling object and when I looked down it was a lighter. Someone muttered ‘excuse me’ and stooped to pick it up. He looked at me and I him. His smile lit up his face, and that was the main attraction at first.
He said something and I think I answered him in affirmative and he sat down next to me on the bench. He introduced himself to me and I him. It was a conversation but I cant remember what we talked about, only that we talked and laughed a lot.
Needless to say, my evening walk became routine and we met there and talk almost every evening for several weeks, until he asked me out for dinner. The rest as they say is history.
He was attentive at first and we made plans to build our own home in our own land and to live together until the sun set on us. We promised to be together until a little over the twelfth of Never…corny but sweet.
We used to watch the sunsets together over the treetops, until the leaves seemed to be wrapped in gold and orange hues. We used to hold hands as we looked up the sky at the many stars during clear nights. We wished on the many stars, for everlasting love and health and prosperity.
I left my work and concentrated on building our home. I cleared the land; made chicken coops, planted vegetables, made the paddy fields…he went to work.
There were subtle changes as the months and years went by. I was no longer the svelte woman but a housewife with fingernails clipped. My hair was not coiffed; I was tanned from working outdoors. My palms were so coarse that if I slapped a cow it would flip over.
I noticed that he was on his cell phone a lot and he would take a long walk along the paddy bund as he did. He would laugh happily, something he no longer did with me. He would sit in silence when he was home and at times he would zone out like he was somewhere else.
Then he started to go on outstation work a lot.
In my heart I knew he had fallen in love with someone else. It was very hard to swallow but I had no choice. One day he just went home and packed his bags. He never returned to the house.
I was jolted to the present when a bird flew by flapping its wings almost to my face. The sun was setting, its red and orange hues peeking through the leaves.
I heard an early owl hoot which made me smile, even as I felt the tears prickle my eyelids.

Ends