Out of Time 01 - Out of Time

wasn’t her question that lingered in his mind later that day. It was the sound of her voice, the tilt of her head, the fire in her eyes.
    “Anyway,” Charlie continued, breaking Simon from his reminiscence. “I walked right over to her and introduced myself. Tipped my hat and said, name’s Charlie Blue and I think I love you.”
    Simon grinned in spite of himself.
    Charlie laughed and reddened at the memory of his boldness. “I know, but ya say some pretty stupid stuff when you’re in love. She laughed at me, but I was a cocky son of a gun and didn’t give up. She said it was improper for her to talk to a man she hadn’t been introduced to. See? Her sister piped up that no matter what, it wouldn’t be proper for her to be talking with the likes of me, but Mary, she had this look in her eyes. They were brown, but there were these little red flecks in ‘em. Sorta like cinnamon. Then she, I’ll never forget, she asked me if I knew anyone in the park. Told her I knew the cop over on the southeast corner. Course, I didn’t tell her how I knew him,” he added with a wink.
    “Luck was on my side that day. She knew the fella too. God bless him, old Pete the cop, never let on and gave us the proper how do ya do’s. Her sister was ready to pop a button, but sweet Mary,” he said, his eyes glazing over at the memory. “Well, from that moment on, I couldn’t think of nothin’ else, but her. It was like a fever, ya know? A wonderful fever.”
    Charlie started to take another drink, but his cup was empty, and he set it aside. “I courted her best I could. She was from a good family. You know, the kind that lives so high up they can’t see nothin’ without lookin’ down their noses. Me, I was a regular Joe, but Mary, she made me feel special. Like me, Charlie Blue, was somebody.”
    Simon knew the feeling, the way Elizabeth had looked when he gave her the stuffed tiger—like he was the only man in the world.
    Charlie looked at the bottle for a moment, then pushed it aside with the back of his hand. “One day, we hadn’t seen each other for a week. We’re supposed to meet, and she don’t show. That’s not her, so I get worried. I go round to her house, and her mother tells me she won’t be seeing me no more. Seems she’s found another fella. Somebody who could give her the things I couldn’t, I guess.” His voice couldn’t hide the bitterness, even after all the years.
    “I didn’t believe it at first. Not my Mary. So, I went back the next day and told ’em I wasn’t leavin’ till she told me face to face.”
    Charlie shook his head, and his eyes misted over. “I was such a God damn fool. She came down and stood behind the screen door. Looked me in the eye and told me it was over.”
    Simon remembered all too well the expression on Elizabeth’s face when she told him she was moving out. An ending before a beginning.
    Charlie’s brawny hands clenched around the empty cup. “I was so angry, I couldn’t see straight. Didn’t see straight. Didn’t see what was right in front of me. She was thin. Too thin. And so pale. But I didn’t see it. All I saw was red.” He laughed bitterly. “Last time I saw her, and I didn’t even really see her.”
    Simon fought down the panic that welled inside his chest.
    Charlie sighed heavily and played with the frayed ends of his bar rag. “Got a letter from her sister ‘bout two months later. Mary had the influenza and...died. Didn’t want me to know. Didn’t want me to watch it happen.”
    The desperation Simon had felt during his nightmare prickled at his skin. Watching Elizabeth die.
    Charlie nodded slowly, once again resigned to his fate. “I woulda taken those two months over the nothin’ I got any day. I shoulda kept on tryin’. Never be another Mary. Not for me.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Eleven years ago. Coulda been yesterday.” He looked up from the tattered edges of the rag and made sure he caught Simon’s eye. “You’re a lucky man, Professor. You’ve got your Mary. Don’t let her go.”
    Simon nodded thoughtfully and drank the last of his Scotch. Elizabeth wasn’t his to lose. Or was she? The real question was, did he have the courage to find out?
    * * *
    Elizabeth gave Simon a wide berth all night. A few times he made tacit overtures; a gaze that lingered a moment too long, the beginnings of an unsure smile, and he even stuttered something about her hair. If she didn’t know better, she might let herself believe he was