Somewhere in Time

"Come Back to Me"

                                                      Was it you , calling me , Beckoning me from another time?    Onur Taskiran

          Chicago , Illinois. 1972
        Millfield College.....
          The heavy red velvet curtain went down as the audience enthusiastically applauded. They cheered and called out 'Bravo!"
The atmosphere in the college auditorium was electric with enthusiasm.
Student playwrite  Richard Collier had just earned an 'A' for his play .

The reception after the play was lively and getting full of intoxicated students, each one holding a beer or a glass of wine.
The song 'Brandy' by Looking Glass,was blaring over a radio in the corner of the room.

Also in the corner of the room , hidden in the shadows was an elderly woman dressed in black lace, with her hair up in an old fashioned Edwardian pompadour. Her aged wrinkled hands holding a playbill and a small object.

Her gaze never left Richard as he mingled and laughed with his friends and colleagues.
A tall, curvy women approached him and draped her arm possessively around his shoulders, while she held a cigarette in the other hand.

Standing up with effort , the elderly woman began to slowly cross the room.
Like Moses parting the Red Sea, the party goers stepped back , letting her pass.
She seemed oddly out of place at a party for college students and their shocked expressions showed clearly on their faces.

"Does anyone want some cake?" Richard asked his friends that were standing the closest to him.

He felt a small warm hand touch the middle of his back and turned around, assuming it to be someone wanting cake .
He was shocked to see a petite old woman with an oddly familiar face and calm but melancholy eyes .

She reached for his right hand and placed the small object in his palm.

"Come back to me!" She plead in a soft but desperate whisper.

And without another word , she turned and walked away .
A small crowd had gathered around Richard , intrigued as to what a elegantly dressed elderly woman would give him.

He opened his hand to reveal a antique bronze pocket watch.
It was etched in delicate filigree , with a long chain. "Oh, my God!" He exclaimed aloud. "What the Hell?"

He stared at the object in his hand , then up at her retreating figure.
"What did she give you?" The women standing next to him asked.

"Hey is this a party , or what?" Someone yelled as the mood in the room became sober.
*************

Elise McKenna rode in the back of the limousine lost in her memories.   She returned to her small bungalow at the base of the Grand Hotel  on Mackinac Island, and was met at the door by her housekeeper Matilda.

     "Did you enjoy the play?" She asked Elise . No reply came as Elise glided past her into her bedroom and closed the door.

         Her mind  drifted to another time and place. She was  no longer in that time, but that is where she left her heart.

         She walked slowly around her bedroom , looking at the antique  nicknacks she treasured.
    A model of the Grand Hotel  sat in a prominent spot in the room. The hotel was built in 1887 as a summer retreat for rich vacationers who appreciated  a cool breeze off of Lake Huron and the fine dining in the hotel  restaurant.

          She loved the hotel for a completely different reason. One that she held onto until this very day. She made her home here. She could never leave this place she cherished, it held too many memories . To leave would be like tearing out her heart.
Elise walked to the open window and pulled back the lace curtains to gazed at an old lighthouse in the distance.
   Her heart swelled at the memory of a certain day at that lighthouse.
And a certain someone.
   She would treasure those times. The best and most tragic time in her life.
           Elise sat in her rocking chair and closed her eyes.  She clutched the playbill to her heart and began rocking back and forth . She thought of a beautiful song, Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini.
             That song playing in her mind helped her drift off  on a cloud and into heaven.