Valerie

This is an intriguing love story.

I met a young African girl when I was 20 years old.
Her name was Valerie, and she was very appealing.
I really liked her from the first time I saw her at the youth club,
But I wasn't confident of winning the love of such a fair girl.
I’d only spoken to her a few times before I did a strange thing.
One night I asked my friend to give Valerie a picture of me.
The boy went to her home and gave her the picture.
And he told her that I sent it for her.
He said that she accepted the picture, and she look at it and smiled.
I asked him what her response was.
The surprising thing was that she didn't say anything to him.

A few days later, she stopped me when I was passing her home.
And she asked me, “Is this the way you do things?”
I don't remember exactly what I said to her,
But the short conversation we had led nowhere.
She didn't give the impression of being interested in me.
And I knew that another guy was trying to court her,
So I didn't have a good reason to compete with him for her.
From that time onward Valerie and I seldom saw each other.
Even though I thought about her a lot,
It didn't take a long time to get over her.
I got married to a Christian lady 10 years after these things occurred.

20 more years passed, and I ran into Valerie at an electronics store.
I went there to purchase a preamplifier for my sound system.
At first I didn't recognize her because she had grey hair.
She was 30 years older, and she looked so different.
I presumed that she was the supervisor at the electronics store.
She said that she had something to say to me while I was waiting.
First of all, she asked me, “Do you remember me?”
I took a good look at her face, and then I said no,
So she asked me, “Did you live in Whitfield Town many years ago?”
I realised she knew me from somewhere, so I told her yes.
Then she added this question, “Do you remember a girl named Valerie?”
I immediately said yes, and she responded, “It's me.”
Honestly, I still didn't recognize her,
But I remembered the beautiful girl I knew.

Valerie said that she saw me in the store with a woman a few months ago.
I told her that the woman she saw me with was my wife.
Much to my surprise, she said, “I kept your picture over the years.”
“I’m not sure if I still have it, I might have recently thrown it away.”
I felt good knowing that she kept my picture for so many years.
Seeing her brought back memories of the days of our youth,
But my passion for her was a thing of the past.
I didn't ask her why she kept my picture for such a long time.
She was obviously carrying a torch for me.
No woman would keep the picture of a man she doesn't love for 30 years.

Author's Note

Enjoy the reading.