The Letter from Massie

Dominic Martia

Old dreams, their shattered pieces cascading through his head. The picture had done this. That fool Massie. Why hadn't he tossed it out with other scraps of his useless life?

He had last seen Massie at Ellen's funeral. The three of them had been friends when they were young. They had lost touch, though occasionally Massie's wife would send Ellen long letters "updating"Í her. Then, shortly after the funeral, the picture arrived.

As he looked at the image of the girl in the bathing suit, he knew his heart would burst. "My God," he thought, "I'm falling in love with her." He was wracked with desire, shame, regret.

When the picture dropped from his shaking hands, it fell face down, exposing Massie's inscription on the back: Ellen, 1957.

Copyright ©2001 Dominic Martia. All Rights Reserved.

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August, 2001 Issue #64

128 Words

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