The Two Recliners

In an old 1970’s-style ranch house in an older part of town were two green recliners.  Both showed considerable wear from many years of constant use.  Only one had a person sitting in it.  A man in his mid-60’s sat there, in the dark, watching a TV show that he cared nothing about.  In the kitchen were empty casserole dishes, stacked messily in the sink. None had been washed. Over the back of the couch lay his black suit.  He sat there, glassy-eyed and sipping on his bourbon.  It had been four days and he already missed her.  Now she was in the ground and her recliner was empty.

His regrets where stacked higher than the dishes.

All the times in their lives that he taken for granted. All the times they were sitting in their chairs and did not speak.  They could have been living. Now that time had passed.  He looked over at the calendar — it was Valentine’s Day.  Never had he felt so alone in his life.

The grandfather clock ticked loudly to the beat of his broken heart.  He looked down at the obituary in the paper. There she was with her beautiful smile.  He remembered that smile when they had gotten married. He remembered her gazing into his eyes when they made love. He felt her heartbeat when she grabbed his hand and squeezed it.  The clock ticked faster.  Her loss was driving him mad.  He closed his eyes. The world fell into completely darkness.  All those years that he had taken her for granted and now she was gone.

He opened his eyes and saw a beautiful blue glow in the hallway.  He got up slowly to investigate but felt cold.  Fear pulsed through his veins as he tried to walk toward the light.  But he couldn’t. Something kept him pinned to this recliner. He sat back down and watched as the glow got brighter.

And then he saw her. Her translucent spirit floated into the room and sat down in her recliner.  She was in white flowing robes and had flowers in her long, gray hair.  He reached out to touch her face as tears flowed down his.  “I…..miss……you…….so………badly………..”

He cursed every moment of his life he had taken his wife for granted.

His wife’s ghost turned toward him and smiled.  She reached out her hand and grabbed his — he felt a love he had never felt before.  She spoke softly in a whisper.  It was almost like she had to struggle to be heard in another dimension.  “Never take life for granted.  I love you so very much and will always love you forever.”

And then she disappeared.

His heart shattered like a china plate dropped onto a concrete floor. He felt himself sink lower and lower into the recliner.  He closed his eyes and a loud noise startled him.

He screamed.

The loud noise had been his very-much-alive wife snoring.  He jumped up, startled and ran over to her recliner. She woke with a start, finding him inches from her face.

“What? Uh… what are you doing?” she asked him quite surprised.

“I love you, I love you, I love you.” the husband cried as he ran his hands all over your face.

“Have you been drinking again?” the wife asked skeptically. “What’s wrong with you?”

The man did not respond. Instead, he pulled his wife out of her recliner and said, “Let’s go out to dinner. Your favorite restaurant?  How about it?  And then we can go dancing — and if you like, we can even go see that movie you love. ”

The wife looked at her husband like he had hit his head. “May I ask what has gotten into you?”

“I had the most frightening dream.” he said.

And that Valentine’s night, the two recliners sat empty.  And from that night on, an old married couple never took each other for granted again.