Jack heard the familiar clap of the mailbox lid on the front porch and walked, as he had for most of his life, to fetch the mail. “Going to get the mail honey” he called out to Eleanor, who always smiled and started the coffee. The usual array of junk mail was missing, but instead, there was a parchment envelope. Jack studied the envelope as he cautiously stepped back in.
“Anyone getting married that you know of?”
“No, I don’t think so.” Eleanor poured a second cup and started to the living room. “Why do you ask?”
“Kind of a fancy envelope here. “Jack studied it, and found only a street number for a return address.
“Revel 214? Mean anything to you dear?”
“Why no, that doesn’t make any sense at all.” Eleanor continued to stir her husband’s coffee as she sat it on the coffee table in front of him.
“I’m gonna let you do the honors.” Jack’s hands were knobbed with arthritis. He could about hold the coffee cup and sip, but his fingers weren’t agile enough to open the envelope. “Is Ed McMahon still alive?” He chuckled through another sip of coffee.
Eleanor was graceful in everything she did. She smiled as she playfully opened the envelope. “And the winner for the most amazing grandfather, father, husband and engineer goes to….” She smiled and then pulled a gold leaf slip of paper from the envelope.
“You are cordially invited to the King’s Symphony.” She read aloud, eyes tilted to look through her bifocal lenses.
“Cordially? We haven’t been cordially invited to anything since your brother Gary commissioned his Yacht.” He laughed.
“That was a fun day, crazy kid. That old bass boat might as well been a yacht,. He was very proud..” She continued to read.
“Honey, wow, I am not believing what I am seeing here. “ Her gaze stiffened. “Tomorrow morning… and the date on here is actually TOMORROW morning…. The honor of your company is expected.. EXPECTED? Kinda pushy if you ask me… at the King’s Symphony. “
“You think it’s legitimate?” Jack wasn’t overly paranoid, he held possessions loosely and had not been jaded by peddlars of scams in his later years.
“It says here that a limousine will arrive at 11am for us.” Eleanor’s jaw dropped ever so slightly.
As she opened a small flap that was folded over, she saw a photograph from her wedding day. “Why Jack, who in the world could have taken this photo?” She turned it around. It was a picture of her and Jack sitting on a bench in a park, holding hands in prayer. She had thought all these years they were alone for that walk right after the ceremony.
“That is odd, I mean strange kind of odd.” He shook his head in a sigh.
“This is really off the wall Jack; I think we should call someone.” She looked for a reaction. “Like John or maybe even the police.”
“Now, think back Eleanor… on our path….” He grinned a bit. “Has anything in our lives together been ordinary?”
“I suppose not.” She studied the envelope.
“Then I suppose we should be heading upstairs to find our fancy threads. “He stood and sipped one last bit of coffee. “We have a Symphony to get ready for.”
“Do YOU have anything to do with this?” Her suspicion was evident in her crooked smile.
He walked back over and took her hands. “I’ll be honest with you, not in a surprise party kind of way. I really have no clue what this is all about. But something just feels right about it. I don’t know, I feel younger than I did before we opened the envelope.”
“As strange as it sounds, I do too.” She tightened her grasp around his hands, and his grasp was even tighter than normal. “Jack Harvey Hudson, it will be an honor to attend the symphony with you.”
“Eleanor, Angel-Eyes, Foxy as the day I met you in the diner Hudson… the honor is truly mine.” He remained holding one of her hands as he walked toward the stairwell. “The King’s Symphony. I am going to the King’s Symphony with my queen. This will make for a grand day.”
Eleanor stopped, and it caused Jack to stop and turn. “Ask me again, Jack. Will you please, ask me again?”
Under the hall light, Jack turned. To Eleanor’s surprise, he slowly crouched to one knee, still holding her hand.
“Eleanor, I realize that I just met you 4 days ago, and that I have eaten far more dinner specials than is good for a man in that time, but would you kindly consider becoming my better half?” Jack’s eyes lit up as his smile curved upward.
“You didn’t forget a single word, you amazing man. Not one, and that was 54 years ago.” She beamed. “You betcha mister.”
They climbed the steps and started fumbling through the closet, wardrobe and chest of drawers like they were prepping for the prom. The evening brought the perfect matches for complimentary attire. They were indeed ready for the King’s Symphony.
“That old suit fits nicely, I thought I wouldn’t wear that one again until it didn’t matter.”
“Oh, you look most handsome dear.” Eleanor straightened the shoulders of the jacket across Jack’s shoulders as she looked at them both in the mirror. “Lovely, I say we still make a lovely pair.”
As he had always joked “You make us lovely and I’ll make us a pair.”
The night brought their goodnights, as it always had. Laying side by side, they clasped fingers and started praying for their children and grandchildren by name. By the end, a simple kiss on the cheek and they drifted off in perfect peace.
The morning was kind and took it’s time arriving. When they both woke up, the sun was just peering in the blinds, and the birds were singing joyfully outside. They both managed to get out of bed lighter and with more vibrancy than they had in a long time. They had been CORDIALLY invited, and they were delighted.
Slippers were on, the juice was poured and the microwave turned to the smell of bacon. They didn’t eat it often, but this morning, Eleanor (to Jack’s surprise) was making the old ‘#5 breakfast anytime’ special that she had served jack several decades before. He knew it as soon as he saw her scrambling the eggs.
“You are too kind to me woman! But don’t let that stop you!” He kissed her cheek and walked out to get the paper. He came back in with the paper, all smiles. “Would you look at this…” He walked it over to Eleanor.
“Happy Anniversary Jack and Eleanor!” on the front page down at the right. “Now that must have cost someone a small fortune!” Jack shook his head in happy disbelief.
“Are you sure you have nothing to do with all of this?” Eleanor was growing sincerely suspicious now.
Jack crossed his heart with his finger. “Notta!” Eleanor stared at his hand. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, actually… Jack… look at your hands.”
Jack looked down at them. They weren’t nearly as swollen as usual. “Amazing what a little good news can do for the body.” His flare up had receded. He read on, in the light of the sun, to many stories of great things happening in town. He didn’t notice the bad news today at all.
Within an hour, they both looked fancy and had a fragrance that was unusual for their humbler years. They started to sit, imagining, if a limo did actually arrive, it would not be on time. They were wrong. Before they were planted on the sofa, the doorbell chimed. Eleanor looked through the blinds to see who stood at the door. She noticed the stretch limousine first, then could see a man on the porch with a hat on. “Jack, it’s them!”
Jack opened the door and got a kind, respectful bow and invitation to step to the open door of the stretch Mercedes. “The king has requested your company at a symphony in your honor.”
Jack looked startled, then over to Eleanor who simply lifted both hands in a clueless gesture. They entered the limo and sat on the plush seat together feeling quite important, and even a bit more bewildered.
“I know that man from somewhere…. the driver.” Jack was flipping his mental rolodex. “Eleanor, I know who that is!”
“Jack, seriously? Who on earth could that be?”
“Do you remember me telling you about being stationed in London during the second great war?” He was reaching way back, and it showed in the way his eyes darted from side to side.
“The little boy?” Eleanor remembered only sketchy details.
“Yes, yes, I swear on all that is good that he is that same little boy.”
Jack was too nervous to ask, it would have been an odd coincidence. After the war, Jack was stationed in England for a time, helping to protect the royal family. The enemy had almost killed this little boy in a random act of retaliation. The war was over, but Jack would win his medal in the days after. He flung himself in front of the boy when he saw a gun raised. He jumped so fast that his head hit the wall. The shot rang out as his helmet fell behind him. Another shot, and he crumpled over the boy. Jack knew that someone above had been looking down on him at that moment. The falling helmet absorbed both bullets. There is no other way the timing could have played out and Jack lived than precisely the way it happened. It changed Jack.
Jack began to look up and whisper “thank you.” He began to ask, “Can you help me with this?” He would continue to ask the sky, until one day he ran forward in a church service. He gave his life to God and made it personal
As the limo neared the convention hall, it looked as though others were streaming in. Eleanor strained to see the woman disappearing into the building entrance. She thought it looked like her sister Rose. She shook her head. “Can’t be Rose. Ah yes, it was Rose’s daughter Cynthia.”
“What’s that dear?” The whisper broke Jack’s daydream.
“I am certain I just saw Cynthia walk in that doorway.”
“Cynthia? You mean Rose’s Cynthia?” Jack strained to see.
“You sure you don’t have anything to do with this?” Eleanor didn’t much care at that point, it was becoming more special by the moment.
They were escorted to the front entrance. Inside, they were greeted with flowers. Flowers from everyone.
“The Symphony is about to begin.” The driver spoke, this time allowing a bit more of his accent to flow in his speech. Jack winked a knowing eye.
As they walked in, they realized there were only two seats not taped off in the whole auditorium. “Where is everyone?” Jack whispered softly to Eleanor. Soon, they found out.
A light rose on the stage. A tap from the conductor brought total silence.
“Oh my word Jack, There is Lindsey.” Lindsey looked very serious with her flute in hand, raised to her lip.
As they looked over the crowd, they saw so many familiar faces. Jack could have said many things, but in the moment joked “Do you really think all of these people we know can play something together?”
It was then the conductor raised his hand and started a gentle motion. Jack could see his son make one slow swipe over a violin, then a moment of hush. One more swipe, slow and in perfect tune pierced the still air. “Beautiful! Eleanor, did you have any idea?”
Eleanor was all smiles…
Then a banner of fabric slowly dropped to rest in suspension over the symphony. Then a flute sounded a playful march. On the fabric, scenes from Jack’s childhood, in old Super8 film filled the screen. Eleanor laughed at the sight of him in overalls heading down to fish.
“Who in the blue blazes…” his thought trailing.
“Why that is YOU Jack.”
“I know that is me, but who….” he then laughed at the sight of Joe, his neighbor friend, bouncing down the dirt road toward the pond.
Another flute kicked in, and the scene switched to Eleanor and Rose, playing hopscotch. This time Jack got the first laugh.
Then, the violins eased back in, and joined the flutes in playful frolic. Scenes flashed and brought laughter and tears. The music built to a magnificent height, and then an oboe sounded a long, warm tone. It was then that the scene of the first meeting at the diner flowed across the screen. With it, both began a trickle of tears. It was also at that moment, that they realized this was no ordinary symphony. The scenes continued, with brass and drum rolls showing the drama of the week they met unfolding.
Every emotion that could possibly be drawn out of a human by music played out in this one song. There were births of children, graduations, and grandkids. It was such a sweet recollection. They realized by the time the numerous scenes played out, as maybe you have as well, that they were at their funeral. It didn’t matter too much to them at that point, it seemed the most real anything ever had.
As the song neared a joyful, albeit tearful end, people started to gather around them. Pats on the back, and then hugs. Eleanor’s mother held her the longest. Then Jack’s parents and brother patted him on the back, embraces and smiles with extended hands.
Then they all knelt down, still touching Jack and Eleanor’s shoulders, and faced the conductor. As His hands raised in finality, the spotlights lifted to silhouette the stage. As the lights lifted, it flooded through the pierced hands of the conductor, and He turned, in the whitest of robes, and smiled as he bowed. All those gathered applauded.
They stayed seated for a long time as the living filed by one by one, each laying a flower at their feet and saying something, each in their own way.
It was only the very last one, Eleanor and Jack’s granddaughter Lydia, that looked up at them both and leaned in to hug them. “I know you are ok! I will miss you Gramma and Gramps.”
Then, there was light, filling the place and warming every bit of Eleanor and Jack’s tired old bones. The exception here… they weren’t old and tired any more. In the moment the light extended over them, everything was youthful again. All those who had gathered around them appeared the same age, very healthy, and so happy.
“What now?” Jack asked of his Father.
“Ha Ha Jackie… I don’t even know where to begin. Where the King’s Symphony ends, the new life begins.” His father smiled ear to ear. One glance was all they had time for, and what a beautiful sight it was, little Lydia blowing them kisses as she stepped out of the building.
Music, Light, Life… forevermore.
Copyright, Jimmy Sadler.