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Sketched by : Makiko ItohA Short Story Written by:
Hicham Sbaa
He looked at his wife, who was crossing the street, through the window of their favorite restaurant.
She was wearing her old red coat, the same red coat she wore in their first date 20 years ago, she had promised him to throw it away but she never did, she just kept pulling it out of her closet, year after year, winter after winter. He hated that coat, he hated the same clothes that she wore over and over again, he hated her piles of lipsticks which she never used. He hated the way she use to hum that song while preparing lunch or ironing clothes. She approached all the things in the same way, and he resented that about her, but strange as it may seem, it was that feature that attracted him in the first place, when he first met her.
All those things were a part of his life for 20 years, the life that had become strange to him, and which he intended to abandon between the main dish and dessert. He realized the weird and logical inappropriateness of the place where he had chosen to put an end to his marriage. It was there where they had their first date, it was there where they had their first kiss, and it was there where they fell in love with each other.
She sat to his table, he looked at her face, and that's when he first realized that he had stopped loving her for a very long time. When she smiled at him, he was on the edge of shouting:
"I'm leaving you!"
"Stop smiling."
But instead he offered her some wine. He was thinking that he should just say the word and get through with this for good and all.
That's when she started to cry like she never cried before, he thought that she knows he was leaving her for that young passionate flight attendant, who he loved for a year and a half.
"She knows"
"I should have expected it" he thought.
While still crying, she took out some documents from her handbag and handed them to him. The documents were written in a very complicated lifeless medical language and described leukemia in its terminal stage.
Having read the documents, the meeting's purpose flew out of his mind. And an echo of a weird voice said to him:
"You can't leave her now, not like this"
And that's what he did, he took his wife home, and on their way, he bought her favorite cake, and sent a three-word SMS to his mistress, that says:
"FORGET ABOUT ME"
Since then, he became a different man, he surrounded his wife with the care she always desired; he helped her around the house, he accompanied her to her favorite movies, he went with her shopping even though he hated it, he read her favorite book to her aloud before her bedtime. He did everything for her, he even adored listening to her humming that song over and over again. Even the most silly things had a different meaning since he learned he was doing them for her for the last time.
Behaving like a man in love, he once again became a man in love. And when she died in his arms, he fell into an emotional coma from which he never awoke. And until this day, years later, his heart still sinks whenever he sees a woman in a red coat.
She was wearing her old red coat, the same red coat she wore in their first date 20 years ago, she had promised him to throw it away but she never did, she just kept pulling it out of her closet, year after year, winter after winter. He hated that coat, he hated the same clothes that she wore over and over again, he hated her piles of lipsticks which she never used. He hated the way she use to hum that song while preparing lunch or ironing clothes. She approached all the things in the same way, and he resented that about her, but strange as it may seem, it was that feature that attracted him in the first place, when he first met her.
All those things were a part of his life for 20 years, the life that had become strange to him, and which he intended to abandon between the main dish and dessert. He realized the weird and logical inappropriateness of the place where he had chosen to put an end to his marriage. It was there where they had their first date, it was there where they had their first kiss, and it was there where they fell in love with each other.
She sat to his table, he looked at her face, and that's when he first realized that he had stopped loving her for a very long time. When she smiled at him, he was on the edge of shouting:
"I'm leaving you!"
"Stop smiling."
But instead he offered her some wine. He was thinking that he should just say the word and get through with this for good and all.
That's when she started to cry like she never cried before, he thought that she knows he was leaving her for that young passionate flight attendant, who he loved for a year and a half.
"She knows"
"I should have expected it" he thought.
While still crying, she took out some documents from her handbag and handed them to him. The documents were written in a very complicated lifeless medical language and described leukemia in its terminal stage.
Having read the documents, the meeting's purpose flew out of his mind. And an echo of a weird voice said to him:
"You can't leave her now, not like this"
And that's what he did, he took his wife home, and on their way, he bought her favorite cake, and sent a three-word SMS to his mistress, that says:
"FORGET ABOUT ME"
Since then, he became a different man, he surrounded his wife with the care she always desired; he helped her around the house, he accompanied her to her favorite movies, he went with her shopping even though he hated it, he read her favorite book to her aloud before her bedtime. He did everything for her, he even adored listening to her humming that song over and over again. Even the most silly things had a different meaning since he learned he was doing them for her for the last time.
Behaving like a man in love, he once again became a man in love. And when she died in his arms, he fell into an emotional coma from which he never awoke. And until this day, years later, his heart still sinks whenever he sees a woman in a red coat.
: : End : :
Copyright 2008
