Sitting at an outdoor café, there is a young couple, just engaged. It's a brilliant Sunday afternoon; parishioners are beginning to pour out onto the streets leaving Mass and there are divine little old fashioned cars bugging slowly down the avenues.
The young couple takes no notice. But it is not because they are so deeply enthralled with one another.
No, the young man is talking to his friend on a cell phone and the girl is deeply involved in a book. The book is old, its pages torn and frayed; it has been worn away by years of love. The phone is new: sleek and shiny, almost an alien object in this slow, sunny, Sunday world.
The boy keeps yapping away and the girl heeds him no attention. They sit at their table and sip their lattes and talk on the phone and read a book.
They love each other.
***
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, an elderly man helps his aged wife down the church steps. She is old, but she is beautiful. Her hair is a pristine white, broken only by the occasional shining burst of silver. It is long and straight and healthy, never in a perm. It is full, despite her old age.
The old man has also evaded the usual damages of age: his white hair is swept back under a brown caddie cap and his mustache and goatee are neatly trimmed. His large, brown Aviators give him a cool, distinguished look. He holds a glossy oak cane and wears a brown tweed jacket to stave off the cold autumn weather. His Sunday shoes shine their best.
The elderly couple make it to their puttering Volvo and decide to make a stop at their favorite old coffee shop in town before heading home for the day.
They love each other.
***
Upon reaching the little café, the elderly couple find a seat in their favorite corner where the sunshine always seems to feel particularly warm. After all, everyone knows that the laws of physics do not apply to love and happiness.
They are already deep in conversation when the nifty waiter arrives to take their order – he's seen them here a thousand times and knows they never want menus. Bonnie and Clyde always know what they want, and yes those are their real names. What a coincidence.
Across the way, the young couple's feet barely touch. The young man's hand is held loosely over his partner's. She is still reading. Done with his conversation, he is left to observe, to let his eyes wander. Almost immediately, he catches sight of elderly Bonnie and Clyde.
He marvels at the way their wedding bands gleam, the way their hands still hold such a firm grip together, the way they smile so genuinely at one another. Still, he thinks, after all these years.
Matt, the young man, hardens his grip over Selena's hand. She looks up from her book, surprised, wary. This isn't the norm for Matt.
Matt continues to look at the elderly couple, wondering how they have so much to say to each other. Wondering how they can still be so interested in one another's lives, especially if they live together. Wondering what it's like to be that age, what it must be like to get to that age with somebody else. Always having someone along for the ride.
When the young couple leaves the café and they begin to walk towards Selena's apartment, Matt takes a dive into conversation. He asks about her friends, about school, about everything. He asks if her mother has called lately, if she's seen her brother. He asks what she wants to do next Sunday.
And when his cell phone rings, he reaches down into his pocket and turns it off.
Author's Soundtrack:
1) "The Chairman's Waltz" -- Memoires of a Geisha soundtrack
2) "Hey There, Delilah" -- The Plain White T's
3) "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing" -- Jack Johnson
4) "Lyrical Lies" -- Cute Is What We Aim For