There was a gentle knock on my door. I looked up from the book I was trying to decipher. God knows how many times I had already read it.
"Excuse me," A young lady wearing chinos and a navy blue polo shirt asked. "There’s someone here to see you. Shall I let him in?" She had a name-tag, but I figured she was too far away for me to see it.
"Sure." Who could be here to see me?
A man, who looked about my age, maybe younger, walked into the room. He looked nervous. I had definitely seen him before, I just couldn’t place his name. I stood up and extended my hand. “Hi, there.” I said, trying to be polite. Maybe he was an old colleague or something.
The man looked at me with teary eyes before quickly wiping them with his sleeve. He shook my hand softly and muttered a small ‘hello’.
"Won’t you sit down?" I gestured to the wicker chair across from mine next to the large bay window. I always loved that seat. It had the most perfect view of the lakes. Sometimes if I woke up early enough, I was able to see the ducks swimming with their little chicks. As we sat there in momentary silence, I looked at the man again. I still had no idea who he was. Tall, lean, and handsome, I wish I could remember how I knew him. I was certain of it.
"Ermm…" he looked at me with his piercing green eyes that were so full of sadness. "I…I brought you something."
Taking the bag from him, I discarded the tissue paper to find a photo album. The first photograph looked so old. It was of 5 boys, all on a stage, singing with huge smiles on their face. One of them looked like a younger version of the aged man now sitting across from me. I looked down at the picture and then up at him again. “Is this you?” I asked, uncertainly.
"Yeah…that’s me." he replied, offering no other hints. I sighed, looking across the room. An older man caught me eye, in the reflection. He was sitting on the same chair that I was, looking back at me with confused blue eyes. He was holding a picture frame, just like me. It took a moment before I realized that I was looking at myself in the mirror. Turning my head back to the photograph, I noticed one of the boys in it looked like a younger version of me. Could it be possible?
"Is…is this me?" I said, pointing to the boy in the picture who was wearing suspenders.
"Yes, Louis, that’s you…when you were twenty."
Twenty years old. Wow. I felt my eyes tear up. I flipped the page to the next picture. It was of a younger me and a younger him holding hands on the Eiffel Tower. I looked up at the man sitting across from me for an answer.
"That’s…um…that’s when we came out together for the first time. It was our first official date." he said quietly.
I looked back to the photo, staring hard. I wanted to remember so badly. Had I been in love with this man? Had we lived our whole lives together? I flipped the page. It was the man holding a little baby.
"That’s Annabelle. We adopted her together." he said softly. I brushed my thumb against the baby’s little cheek, feeling only the plastic of the covering. Had I held that baby in my own arms and watched her grow up? I smiled softly, she was so beautiful, and so was he.
The next picture showed the three of us, standing in front of a nursery school. “Let me guess…Annabelle’s first day of school?” I asked, smiling at the man for the first time.
Moving through the album, I saw how my life played out from these pictures. The man and I on a cruise, the three of us on a roller coaster; the man and Annabelle reading from a newspaper. So many little activities had been chronicled, and yet, I couldn’t remember a thing. I couldn’t remember how my precious daughter even looked now, and I couldn’t even remember my beautiful partner’s name. It was killing me. As we reached the last picture, which consisted of me holding Annabelle’s own daughter, I looked up for the last time at the man, hoping for a final answer.
"You and I…." I trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. The tears were brimming in my eyes, waiting to take the plunge down my face. I was heartbroken that I couldn’t remember this beautiful life that I once had. I had it all with my family, and now…all I looked forward to was watching the ducks cross the pond in the morning. I only remembered the ducks. The man leaned forward and took my hands in his own and started to rub soft circles into my palms with his thumbs.
"Lou, on our first date, we went to a park after standing on the Eiffel Tower. We went to a park and we sat down on a bench next to the pond." He stared at me, trying to get me to focus on his words. "In the pond we saw…"
"Ducks. We saw ducks." I replied automatically.
"You remembered, like always.,” he said smiling, bringing my fingers up to his mouth before placing a kiss on the back of my hand.
"I remembered?" I asked, still uncertain of my memory.
"Yes. You remembered. We sat at that bench and watched the ducks swim across the pond for hours. That’s when I told you that I loved you."
I smiled, vaguely trying to remember the feel of his lips against my own.
"Remember that, Lou. Whenever you’re sad, or feel lonely. Remember that the ducks will always be here for you,” he said, gesturing to the pond outside.
"I’ll always remember, Harry. I always will.
Not my writing, hope you enjoy(:
