Up The Beach

The day was beautiful and clear, and we sat in the shade of the building i lived in on the beach. He sat there with his arms around her. He was so important to her, and i could see it written in her eyes and all across her face like a book left open in hopes the world would read it and understand. He was telling me of his woes. He had worn a tux, but not at the right time, he was telling me. He was wearing the tux now, but he wished he'd worn it last night. I told him that if i was her, i wouldn't have cared what he was wearing. . . i would simply have been happy he was there. He looked at me as though i didn't understand, but it was he who did not understand. I looked at her to see if she understood, but the book had closed. She was now afraid the world would read and misunderstand. Four tears rolled down my face, the only indication of my sorrow for her, but he didn't notice. He was trying, again, to explain how things would be different today, right now, if he'd only worn the tux last night. I looked at her, infinitely sad that he couldn't understand what his explanations were doing to her. She now wore a mask of her own face. I couldn't bear it. I got up and walked up the beach. I could hear his explanations perfectly, though i walked farther and farther from him. He had been wearing jeans and a white tee shirt, you see. White! he exclaimed to me, the heavy emotion written in his eyes and all over his face like a book left open in hopes i would read and understand. I understood. My heart was breaking that he couldn't understand. I looked at her, and i could see a pool of tears collecting under her. She was now wearing a mask of someone else's face. She doesn't care about the white teeshirt, i pleaded with him at the top of my lungs. He couldn't hear me because i was now so far away. I could hear him perfectly, but he could not hear me. I sighed and continued my walk. They were specks behind me, and i could hear his heart breaking in his voice. She was drowning in the tears shed by eyes that were no longer hers, eyes that she'd changed in the desperate hope to escape the pain he couldn't help inflicting on her with his own pain. I couldn't walk any farther.