The Swing
You were perfect, exactly as you were.
It was a rainy afternoon. As the rain interrupted Paul's daily afternoon walk, he removed his shoes with disappointment. He never misses his afternoon walk, just like his coffee, morning and evening.
Paul grabbed a cup of coffee, took his iPad, and sat on the swing on his front porch. The rain poured like it couldn't control it even if it wanted to. He kept staring at the rain and took a few sips of coffee. His mind wandered restlessly into the things he needed to get done the rest of the day. A few weeks back, his car had a flat tire at a grocery store. He got help from a stranger to put the spare tire temporarily. He had a checklist that included fixing the tire as the day's top priority. At his age, he cannot afford to fall behind on essential things.
As he finished his coffee, he turned on his iPad. His eyes narrowed on the notification on the center of the screen. He looked closely, and it was a reminder. It read, "The Day We Met." He swiped down the notification area to see the date, "November 12, 2022". He stared at the rain as he placed the iPad in the swing.
It had been ten years since he met Jane. Last year, on the same day, Jane fought with him for not doing anything special. By then, Paul was tired of this constant wanting to celebrate and treat life in a fun way. He didn't like that attitude of his as well. They did nothing most of the day but eventually came together to have a take-out sitting in the swing. Little did they know that only one of them would remain alive a year from then. Paul had not cried out loud since Jane passed away a few months back. Though his sons persuaded him to come and live with them, he felt the strong urge to remain in the house as he thought of some unfinished business.
The swing had a special place in the house. Many conversations between them, as a family, with friends and neighbors had happened there. When friends came over, the swing would take turns hosting men in political conversation, women in movie gossip, and all in neighborhood gossip. That always brought people across divisions together.
Paul once baked a cake for Jane's birthday, and they celebrated on their porch. They sat on the opposite side of the swing, legs on either side and finished the entire cake. The swing was also a big part of their group pictures. As a family or when extended family visits them, or when friends come over, taking a group picture sitting on the swing was almost a religious ritual. Their friends would joke around calling them 'The Swingers'. Honestly, Jane would have loved it if they lived a swing lifestyle. Paul was never the one to experiment with things in general. When Jamie, their first son started walking, they had to remove the swing temporarily. Jamie used the space on the porch to learn to walk as it was a small house. Jane would joke around, saying she was waiting to swing as she was tired of the current lifestyle leaving Paul with a frowned face. She always wanted to live a carefree, free-willed life.
Now he is alone in the house, and the swing is the only saving grace for the loneliness. It's not the swing he is attached to but the memories created over the years. As he touched the swing next to where he was sitting, he looked at the emptiness next to him and the rain. What started as a slow tear rolling down his cheek turned into slight sobbing, and then he broke out. He shouted at the top of his voice, crying loudly, and still, the sound of rain won over him. The rain had come down from the clouds with a plan.
Paul missed her texts, wanting to make plans, meet people often, her possessiveness, her insecurities, the fights, and most of all, her way of caring for him. To him, Jane had just died.
