Page 56 - Demo
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2030-JONE
knew each other. A smile came over her face as she listened with streaming tears of joy.
“Look, we have both had pretty rough lives. But that doesn’t mean we can’t create our own world, he said. “Do you think we can do that.”
She turned her head still sobbing.
Tom got up from his seat and knelt at her feet gently grab- bing the sides of her head.
He turned her head toward him and said, “Listen to me. I am not perfect either. I have done some things I am not proud of and may do more. But when I return, we will leave that all behind. All of our past and the things we don’t care to remember will be forever washed away. I don’t want to know about your past and mine will stay far behind me. But I need someone special to go into my future. Is that you?”
She embraced him again holding his head close to her breast. They were both locked in the ecstasy of the revelation. Tom started to shuffle from the water seeping through his coat. The embrace slowly melted as she started to kiss him on his forehead, nose, cheeks and mouth. She rose from the chair and disappeared into another room. He got up from his knees, picked up his hat, and started to remove his coat. She returned wearing a large towel and placed another over Tom’s head. Tom slowly followed her into the next room undressing as he went. Suddenly, he thought about the pager Corin had given him he removed it and held it in his hand.
“Can’t forget about this for a minute.” Got to put it where I will always hear it.”
He caught up to her and said, “I must hear this no matter what, if it goes off. Please help me listen.”
She nodded affirmatively, and they both entered the tub already half full from bubble bath suds. After playing in the shower, they dried each other off. He hooked his pager to his towel, picked her up, and carried her to the bed. For a mo- ment they both thought of the things that had made them hurt
The Reaction Factor 55

