In the park sat a couple. They sat, their backs to each other and turned away. Nothing spoken no gestures made.
One facing outwards towards the pathway and road, watching as cars and passers by went about their own journeys.
In her face you could see a wanting to get up, to go, to run. To just do something, anything that would be lively and exercise life. Her long golden hair gently stirring in the breeze. She was dynamic wanting to be alive not sitting here waiting for him to make a move.
But she could not move, she was tethered to him. Freedom was not hers to have, that chance or the opportunity to get up and run away.
He was the opposite. Facing the dark corridor of vegetation, deep shadows were what he looked upon. His back turned to the bright world behind him. His hunched over body a telling sign of his mood yes, but more so his emotions and thoughts of himself. The small dark forest and the even smaller creek were much like him.
The branches of the Camphor tree hanging low made what he looked at even darker. He saw little in the way of grass in the deeply shaded soil. Where as she looked out to a thick carpet of green, glowing in the sunlight.
He was lost in his own thoughts of despair, drawn down so deeply into a well of depressing thoughts he could not explain to anyone or even try to put in to words.
They were worlds apart, but all he needed to do was turn and she would be his salvation from his thoughts and gloom.
And finally he did.
She turned looking over her shoulder and with her eyes she said, “Lets go” and he could see her smile break out.
He stood up and gathering her lead reached down to hold her head in his hands and then gently stroked her golden head. It was as if to say thankyou for dragging him back from the depths and for her companionship and patience.
They walked out together, out into the bright sunlit world beyond and continued their day together.
(Copyright 2021 Kevin Palmer, all rights reserved)