This has been sitting on my hard drive for about six years now, gathering dust. Many thanks to Susan for the quick beta, for goading me into posting, and especially for making me laugh out loud repeatedly tonight.
Title: Safekeeping
Author: Sue S.
Rating: PG
The chain of friendship
stretching far
links days that were
with days that are.
-- Anonymous
<><><>
I didn't realize what impulse was driving me until long after I had left the shop with a small gold-colored box in hand. I carried it home with trembling fingers. It weighed next to nothing, but it felt like my entire future was in that 3 x 3 inch box. Once I was home, I set it next to the black velvet jeweler's box holding two rings that might never be used.
No, make that used again. They were briefly put to use for a couple of weeks. Clark had worn his in earnest, while the woman who wore mine had only been pretending. I open the box and stare at the matching simple bands of silver. My chest tightened at the unfairness of it all.
But it's too late to complain, or scream, or cry, or do anything. The decision has been made. Clark is leaving. Tomorrow morning he'll fly off to save a planet he never knew. It's a war, so he might never return. Even if he does come back, he might never be the same.
I pick up the smaller ring that I'll never get to wear and wonder if that's why I bought that silver necklace. Maybe it's the only way I'll ever be able to wear my wedding ring. I open the gold box and take out the thin chain. I thread the ring onto it, feeling like I'm severing a little piece of my heart in the process. That's when I realize that I didn't buy the chain for me. I bought for it Clark.
Tomorrow I have to let him go. I have to let him fulfill his destiny. I have to be brave and generous and supportive and watch him walk away, possibly forever. But just because I can't go with him doesn't mean that I have to let him go alone. The engagement ring he gave me brought him back to me when Baron Sunday invaded his dreams. Surely my wedding ring could be the talisman that will remind him of me, of home, and of our potential future. It will bring him back.
He's coming over soon to say goodbye. I'll give the chain and ring to him then, and ask him to keep that fragment of my heart safe with him, no matter what the future brings.
End
