A Visit from a Dead Friend

Walt had a girl friend. Both his and the girl's family assumed they would be married. He visited her at her school in a rural setting. "She would wave good bye to me until I disappeared from sight," he told me.

She returned from her school on a visit. He was overjoyed to be spending time with her. As they talked, he noticed a little bandage on her arm.

"What's that?" he asked. "That's from my blood test. You know how they require one for you to get a marriage license." She had neglected to tell him she was marrying. He was no more important in her life.

He drove to my house one evening on the verge of tears. We walked as he poured out his heart's feelings. I was touched that he came to me when he got the bad news. I could only listen. He needed to talk. Our friendship grew from this time on, until he died young, as men in his family often did.

Just recently he appeared to me in a vivid dream. I was in a room of milling people, all of them talking in a babble of gibberish. I stood alone, feeling trapped. Suddenly Walt appeared making his way through the mob. In my dream I did not think that he had died, only that he had been away for a while.

"You're saving me," I said, referring to the oppressive boredom. He extended his hand to me. "Let's get out of here," he said. I began to tell him of my hopeless situation in life.

He said, "Forget about that. Wait until you see what I have for you. It will make you forget all these things." He surged ahead keeping his revelation a secret, yet eager to show me.

Then the sidewalk faded away, and so did my friend. As i awoke, Walt was gone, and so was my hope.