The Shell Pt. 2

All of the memories flooded back to him. Stephanie, and that time at the bowling alley when she had given him the bear, and many amusement park visits, and rides on the ferris wheel..and that walk on the beach, so many years ago. He cried. The old man slumped over the rock and held it. That's what had been missing. He had forgotten about Stephanie and all of the wonderful times they had had together. The beautiful auburn hair, and that celestial look in her eyes...and her thighs. It was her thighs. He wiped the tears from his eyes and sighed. He put the shell and all of the other things back into the box and sealed it; and then he put it in the moving van. No one knew he had been crying only a few minutes before when he came back down.

Stephanie was alone. She spent most of her current time walking along the water. For some reason, it always made her feel calm and secure. She would watch the sunset and breathe in the saltwater air. She always felt better after that.

One day, Stephanie was walking along the beach, and it wasn't quite sundown yet. She looked out into the deep water and saw the children splashing and playing. Then, some ways behind her, she saw two teenagers walking, hand in hand, along the water. She was struck with so much emotion that it nearly sent her to her knees. Why? Why do I feel so overwhelmed? They're just two teenagers, and they're walking together...why is it getting to me? Then, a man said,

"Ma'am, are you ok?"

Stephanie looked up into a pair of piercing, steel-blue eyes. "Yes, I'm fine..." "I just wanted to make sure you weren't hurt. Would you like me to walk you back to your car?" "No, no, I live right over there. I'll be fine." "Ok. Well, I'll see you around. Have a good day."

Stephanie knew those eyes. The voice was different, but the same.

"Bill?" she called faintly.

The man stopped. He turned with a look of final understanding in his eyes.

"Steph?"

They looked at each other, and then both knew. They walked, slowly, then faster, until they were almost jogging towards each other. They met and embraced.

They spent that evening on the water, watching the sunset. They talked and laughed about old times. They almost felt like they were back on this beach, all those years ago. Then, Bill walked Stephanie home. He kissed her on the cheek, and then left.

The next morning, Stephanie got a phone call from someone she didn't know. "Hi, I'm Adam, one of Bill's kids." "OH! Hello there!" "My dad wanted me to call you as soon as I could..." "Yes? Is everything alright?" "Well..no...dad's in the hospital. He's not doing so well."

Stephanie, not even knowing why she was acting with such urgency, flew to her car and headed straight for the infirmiry. She had to get there, and get there fast...but why?

She walked in to Bill's room, and he was hooked up to about 20 different machines. "They say I don't have much longer, but I think that's ok. I feel a lot better about everything now." "That's good," she said. "Stephanie..." he started. "I know, Bill," she said. "I know what you're going to say, because I wanted to say it too. My life has been great, and I've done so many things...but when I saw you again yesterday for the first time in all these years, I realized that I wasn't truly happy the whole time." Bill smiled, but said nothing. Then the doctors rushed in quickly, and began to take his vitals. Stephanie didn't understand it. What was..?

The head doctor turned to her. "I'm sorry."

Oh no...no, no, no, not now, not right after all of this....not now! But even as she put her hands over her eyes to weep, a gleaming object caught her eye. Something was in Bill's hand. She turned it over and pulled out the object.

It was the shell. And then, she knew.

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