Gray Love

by Gene Shelburne

Now that we old folks outnumber the rest of you in America, even the Valentine stories have turned gray.

Consider the saga of 83-year-old Walter Duddes’ recent encounter with Cupid.

After he buried his childhood bride, Walter soon realized that the big house they had shared so many years was no place for a lonely old man. So he parceled out the family heirlooms to his kids, put up a For Sale sign in front of the house, and moved into the fancy retirement center across town.

Somehow—Walter was never quite sure how—he found himself spending quite a bit of his time with Alice, a widow whose room was several doors down the hall from his. They shared breakfast, read the same newspaper, dawdled over coffee most mornings instead of going back to their far-too-quiet rooms alone.

One evening after supper Walter mustered all his courage and popped the question. “Alice,” he stammered, “I wonder if you would consider marrying me?”

Just getting those words out of his mouth left him breathless and a bit light-headed. Like so many other activities in life, proposing is a task for young men.

When he awoke the next morning, Walter was still some-what flustered by the experience of the evening just past. But his biggest concern was not that he had proposed. What flummoxed him was that he couldn’t remember whether Alice had said Yes or No.

“Now what do I do?” he browbeat himself. All morning long he sweats over this new mess.

Finally he shuffled down the hall and rang Alice’s doorbell. When she answered the door, without a hint of finesse he blurted out his problem. “I can’t remember if you told me Yes or No,” he confessed. He had never been more embarrassed.

“Oh, Walter,” Alice gushed and as she clasped his hand. “I’m so glad you have come to talk with me about this. When I got up this morning, I knew I had told someone last night I would marry him. But for the life of me I couldn’t remember who.”

Every age presents its own special challenges for romance. But it’s worth it, isn’t it?

Walter Dudde’s instincts were right when he sought companionship. “It is not good for a man to be alone.”