ONE MORE TIME
75 year old Maddie opened her eyes after having a very fitful, restless sleep. She was dreaming she was floating and at the very end of her dream she could have sworn she heard a whisper in her ear…"it's time". She looked over at the space in her bed that once occupied the love of her life, her husband, best friend, agitator, lover, David Addison. He had passed away, quietly, two years ago from dementia and although he was fine physically, that horrid disease took his essence away, it literally De-Daved him. When she looked into those green eyes for the last time before he closed them forever, he smirked, tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and managed to say. "I'll wait for you". As Maddie recalled that day she closed her eyes once more, always hoping that when she looked again, he was there.
Before her eyes fluttered open once more, she heard a crash, the sound of pottery breaking and she sat up startled.."What the". Is all she could say before she heard another crash of glass breaking, the sound coming from her kitchen. She put her robe on and ran down her stairs to find out what was happening and found her cat on the counter pushing objects out of her way so she could find a spot to lay down. "Blue", she screamed, "What are you doing", "Get off the counter" and shooed her away. The cat jumped to the floor to find her water bowl not really caring what her owner thought of her behavior. Maddie looked down to see what objects that cat had destroyed. A juice glass and, oh no, her blue plate that was shaped in the form of a crescent moon. David had found that plate years ago in a pawn shop while he was on a case and surprised her with it one Valentine's Day. He had placed it on their table before a special dinner he was preparing and when she sat down she saw the plate with a heart shaped cupcake on it and a card that read:
Maddie,
My heart has been yours "Since I Fell for You" so why not offer it up to you on a plate but not just any plate, a Blue Moon plate. Happy Valentine's Day Baby.
Love you Always,
D
She picked up the two pieces of the plate from the floor and held them together, suddenly feeling a cold wind brush her cheek like a soft kiss. Maddie shuttered, closed her eyes and put her hand to her face. After two years she still yearned for his kisses.."David", she sighed and got caught up in the memory of him for the moment. Focusing back to the problem in front of her, she thought she could glue the pieces together again to form the crescent moon but it would have a huge crack in the middle. "How appropriate" she thought to herself because since the day he left, there has been a crack in my heart that I could never glue back. At that moment the phone rang and Maddie went to look who was calling…It was her bank. She was informed that her Debit Card had been hacked and she needed to close it down and open a new one. As Maddie hung up the phone, a strange, eerie feeling crept over her. Plates and glass shattering, her money stolen…it felt like a day long ago. She looked on a calendar and saw the date, March 3, 2025. How could she have forgotten? Not only would this have been their 35 year Wedding Anniversary, it was 40 years ago today that started out all wrong but ended up all right because David Addison entered her life and changed it forever. The man she still loved with all her heart as broken as it was. Suddenly, a feeling of longing took over her and she knew where she wanted to be at that moment, the Northwest Corner of Ninth and Broadway. "It was Significant" she remembered David saying once and it was beckoning to her. Maddie hurriedly dressed, took a cab ride to the spot where she wanted to be and when she got to that corner she looked up. THE EASTERN BUILDING. It may not look like it had 40 years ago but that didn't matter to her. SHE KNEW HE WAS THERE WAITING, she could feel it, could feel him willing her to come to him. Maddie started to cross the street looking up and never saw the car coming.
Maddie felt herself floating again like she had that morning in her dream but this time she knew she was ascending up to heaven. When she arrived at the Pearly Gates, she didn't even stop to "check in". She knew instantly where she was going, she could feel him guiding her to where he was. Maddie stopped when she saw David sitting on a cloud and smiled. They locked eyes and the electricity they had felt when they were together all those years ago was still palpable. He patted the spot next to him for her to sit down.
Maddie sat down and simply said "I've missed you". David smiled and responded, "I told you a long time ago that I would keep your side of the cloud warm for you." "That it wouldn't be a heaven without you and I was right". "Heaven was on earth for me because you were there and not until this moment have I felt that way again". He took her hand and touched her face, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. He leaned in to kiss her and when their lips met their souls ignited and flew back down to earth to start their story ONE MORE TIME, just as the Angel Jerome had explained to baby Hayes, Maddie and David's love story NEVER ends, it transcends time and just gets reinvented.