達芙娜·勒南/Daphna Renan
Michael and I hardly noticed when the waitress came and placed the plates on our table.We were seated in a small deli tucked away from the bustle of Third Street, in New York City.
Our exchange was lively, if not profound.We laughed about the movie that we had seen the night before and disagreed about the meaning behind the text we had just finished for our literature seminar.He told me about the moment when he had taken the drastic step into maturity by becoming Michael and refusing to respond to“Mickey.”Had he been twelve or fourteen? He couldn’t remember, but he did recall that his mother had cried and said he was growing up too quickly.As we bit into our blueberry blintzes, I told him about the blueberries that my sister and I used to pick when we went to visit our cousins in the country.I recalled that I always finished mine before we got back to the house, and my aunt would warn me that I was going to get a very bad stomachache.Of course, I never did.
As our sweet conversation continued, my eyes glanced across the restaurant, stopping at the small corner booth where an elderly couple sat.Her floral-print dress seemed as faded as the cushion on which she had rested her worn handbag, The top of his head was as shiny as the soft- boiled egg on which he very slowly nibbled.
She also ate her oatmeal at a slow, almost tedious pace.
But what drew my thoughts to them was their undisturbed silence.It seemed to me that a melancholy emptiness permeated their little corner.
As the exchange between Michael and me fluctuated from laughs to whispers, confessions to assessments, this couple’s poignant stillness called to me.How sad, I thought, not to have any thing left to say.Wasn’t there any page that they hadn’t yet turned in each other’s stories? What if that happened to us?
Michael and I paid our small tab and got up to leave the restaurant.As we walked by the corner where the old couple sat, I accidentally dropped my wallet.Bending over to pick it up, I noticed that under the table, each of their free hands was gently cradled in the other’s.They had been holding hands all this time!