Ten Years and Change
It was different out there, Don thought as he watched the news of Nixon's resignation on the TV that hung over his hospital bed. The resignation had been the big story all week, and he still wasn't clear on exactly why it had happened. The scandal's history didn't sound all that different from some of the other behavior he'd known politicians to involve themselves in, but then again they hadn't been President. It was still hard for him to believe that a man who had been considered out of politics at the time of his accident had gone on to risen to the highest office in the land. Yes, a lot had happened while he'd been away.
A nurse came in to check his IV and blood pressure. She was about the same age he'd been in 1964, which would have made her right out of college back then. She still looked attractive, although her hair was a bit longer than he would have liked in most women, and it was in the curly style that seemed to be popular now. Don watched her leave and then chided himself for acting like a dirty old man.
Betty had been the first to visit him when he woke up. She was as beautiful as ever, her relationship with Henry Francis having ended a few years earlier; she was now single and apparently happy. His kids-God, his son was now in college and his daughter was working at an ad agency herself-were like strangers to him now.
Others came and went. Roger and Bertram were gone now, but Peggy came, as did Paul Kinsey and Ken Cosgrove. Good lord, they looked different. They were both successful writers now, with Paul having won something called a Hugo award for one of his books. Peggy was still much the same, but more self-confident. She had his old job at the agency now. Even Sal Romano dropped by, now openly out of the closet-one more thing that had changed in society. Pete…Don was initially shocked when he heard what had happened; only a couple of years after his accident, but maybe it hadn't been so unexpected after Peggy rejected him. He could only hope that Pete was at peace.
Don wondered what he was going to do with himself when he was released. He was a man out of time, with certain attitudes that didn't fit in with this new, liberated decade. He didn't recognize the fashions or the hairstyles, the music sounded like it was from another planet, and everything else was just as unfamiliar. Ten years was a long time to be away.
Then he thought about what the lost time had given him. Everyone else had moved on with his or her lives-well, everyone except for poor Pete. He'd had to start from scratch before, and despite how different things might be now, he could do it again. Betty was still there, after all, and maybe still waiting for him.
If she could start over, then so could he. Maybe they could do it together.
THE END