A new friend

At a recent party I met a beautiful lady named Nancy; she had a little dog sitting on her lap. She said she carried her small dog with her at all times. She is my sisters mah jongg friend and I was longing for a game; Nancy showed interest. My sister e-mailed me her last name and telephone number the next day, and something struck a bell. I reached back 24 years into my memory and by the time Nancy picked up the phone I figured out we were sisters. I asked if the name "Per" meant anything to her and sure enough, she was the lady whose arms took Per from me 24 years ago. He was all of 22 years old at the time, while I was 50; he was a beautiful tall blonde Swedish guy with the sweetest smile, and I was crazy for him.

I knew back then how they met but now Nancy told me exactly how. "When he walked into the restaurant I was in, I tripped him." How jealous I was about this other woman back then. I wanted to know all about her, who was she, was she pretty, was she nice. I found out through a mutual friend (I do not recall at all who she was) that Nancy had not murdered anyone and was a nice person. Not only that I heard she was pretty. OOf! I longed for her to break up with Per and sure enough a year or so later she did; and I welcomed back his broken heart. He told me she had packed up and moved to Aspen and shortly later married some guy. Nancy knew nothing about me in this life and the effect she had on me, but I sure knew Nancy.

Neither one of us knows what happened to beautiful Per, the sweet man we both knew who gave us lasting memories sisterhood and now friendship.

Carol Sue Gershman