Last Dance

What does it take to let your love go?

“I'm so sorry ma'am, I don't know where in the world my wife could be. Virginia is often late, but not usually this late.” John said while looking around anxiously. He was 22 and a veteran. The war had just ended and he was finally home with his wife and the love-of-his-life, Virginia. He had somehow ended up across the table and talking with this nice, if not odd, old lady, though he didn't know how or why. Not wanting to be rude, John continued to talk to her and wait for his wife, for he had a feeling that this old lady was a relative of hers. She bore a slight resemblance to Virginia.

            “How long have you known my wife?” John asked, trying to gather some information about her.

            “All my life.” Virginia answered with a small chuckle to herself because in this situation, all you could do was laugh but she didn't want to alert John to her private joke. No matter how much she ever tried to explain it, John never got it. She loved her husband very much, but frustration was starting to take over more and more, and she was beginning to think the jokes weren’t funny anymore. Virginia was 86, her husband John was 88 though he still thought he was 22. John suffered from Alzheimer's and didn't recognize her or their children or grandchildren anymore. After the devastation of the diagnosis, she began to think it was funny and would play games with him, though he didn't know they were games, but she was starting to get board of these games and just wanted him to realize that she was Virginia, not some old relative of Virginia's as she always claimed to be.

            “More tea, John?” She asked.

            “Yes, ma'am.” He answered, all politeness from a far gone era.

            He kept looking around all over the place and checking his watch, waiting for a Virginia that would never come. The Virginia that was young and beautiful, with long wavy blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. The slim, petite Virginia that used to make heads turn. The Virginia that only had eyes for John. Not that that last part had changed over the years, and as John didn't see her anymore, she didn't want to see him either.

            She would sometimes let her imagination take over and remember herself how she used to be, how John remembered her, and would have conversations with him this way to help herself with the frustration. She would pretend that they were just dating, even though he was married to another.

            “Are you sure Virginia is coming?” Virginia would ask.

            “Oh yes ma'am, she would never not come visit a relative.”

            “But I don't know if I want Virginia to visit and spoil our time together.”

            John would blush at this, thinking he was being propositioned by an older woman. It was funny to watch him squirm. Today was especially frustrating because her imagination wasn’t working for her and John was being unusually quiet and respectful, which just made her more irritable. Not that she could take any of these feelings out on John. What did he know about the situation? Nothing.

            “So, uh.... I'm sorry, I don't believe I caught your name?” John asked.

            “It's Virginia.” Virginia slipped. S**t! I wasn't supposed to tell him my real name. I never do that! It will only confuse him. She thought.

            “Virginia? Are you by chance her great Aunt Virginia who she was named after?”

            “Yes, yes I am; so good of you to remember.”

            “Have we met before? I thought I had only heard stories about you?”

            “Right. No, we have never met, but I'm glad to hear that Virginia has never forgotten her aunt.”

            “Of course Virginia would never forget the aunt she was named after, would she now sweetness.” Said some man as he came up and kissed Virginia on the cheek.

            “Oh, good! Your husband's here.” said John, relief clear on his face.

            “What? No this isn't-” Virginia started, confused.

            “Yes I am, and it's such a pleasure to meet such a strapping young lad as you. How have you been treating little Virginia? Well, I hope; or else I'll have to kill you.” And then the stranger let out a loud boisterous laugh.

            John flushed at the false accusation and replied “Well of course I've been treating her well and providing everything she could ever want and need. We're hoping to be expecting our first child soon.”

            Virginia was shocked at the tone John had taken with someone who he thought to be an elder. He was always very polite to everyone, especially the elderly.

            “Now, now. It was only a joke, my dear lad. A joke.”

            “Yes, of course. I understand, sir. Sorry for my tone.”

            “Can I speak with you a moment.” Virginia asked the strange man.

            “Of course. We'll be right back, John.”

            John sat where he was and awaited their return while Virginia pulled the man aside into the next room.

            “What on earth do you think you're doing?” Virginia demanded.

            “Just helping a woman in need.”

            “What does that mean?” She said indignantly.

            “It was so pathetic to just watch you day after day talking with your husband and treating him like a fragile child while he had no idea who you are and what you do for him. I could see it starting to weigh on you and so I decided to step in and help you have some fun for once instead of being all gloomy and sad.”
            Virginia tried to comment back, but the strange man was already around the corner. As she was walking into the room, she heard music starting to play on the old record player. The stranger held his finger to his lips.

            “Shh. You'll wake him.” He whispered. John was slumped in his chair. Virginia was afraid of this man and ran over to check to make sure John was still breathing. He was.

            “What do you want?” Virginia asked.

            “To show you what you're missing out on.” The stranger answered. He moved so fast, Virginia couldn't believe he was an old man. He scooped her up in his arms and started to dance with her. She struggled a little at first, but as the slow, sweet music crept into her ears, she started to feel a little woozy, like she had the first time she tried her mama's sherry. I haven't thought about my childhood in so long she thought. It felt good to be back in a man's arms again and she let him carry her around to the music, enjoying this little pleasure that she hadn't felt in so long. They were swirling around the room in the mid day sun, and as they started to move a little faster, the room seemed to grow bigger, the lights darker. The furniture disappeared, all but the table and chairs that she and John had been sitting in. John was still sitting in his chair snoozing, not noticing what was going on around him. Virginia thought, he must be hearing this music because it's pounding so loudly in my ears. He must have noticed the change in light, or the air of the room being less stuffy as it grew bigger. But John never roused.

             The strange man turned Virginia under his arm and spun her out to a mirror. She was shocked beyond belief. Staring back at her was this young, gorgeous woman she used to know. Herself. The stranger had changed too, into some beautiful young man in an impeccable white suit with tails. She looked down and saw herself in a gorgeous red dress. Then the music changed to a rough sounding tango. The stranger held his hand out to her.

            “I don't know how to dance the tango.” Virginia replied. She looked down for a second and looked back up and the stranger had crossed the room and was standing right in front of her. He had moved too quickly to be real.

            “I think you do.” He whispered into her ear. He took her up in his arms again and they started to dance.

            “Why are you still here with him?” The stranger asked.

            “He's my husband and I love him.”

            “So? You're love is gone. Can't you feel that? The man you knew and loved is gone and the woman he knew and loved is gone too. Why don't you leave him? Come with me instead. You don't have to suffer alongside him. I mean, he doesn't even know who you are or that you're suffering because of him. You think he would be okay with that?”

            “No, but I would not be happy with myself for just leaving him like this. Without ever knowing...”

            “Knowing what?”

            “I don't know.” was all she could answer.

            The music was moving faster and faster and the more agitated the stranger got, the more his face changed. The light was becoming increasingly darker and darker so that it was becoming more difficult to see his face. He kept berating her with the same requests.

            “Leave him.”

            “No.”

            “Come with me.”

            “No.”

            Each time she answered the dancing would get rougher, his requests more commanding. Until finally they reached a light and she saw the stranger for who he was. A skeleton was looking at her. She pulled away as hard and fast as she could and the spell was broken. They were back in the parlor room. John was still asleep, and the stranger, back to how she first saw him standing by the record player as if nothing had happened. Was it all a dream? Had she dozed off too like her husband? But if so, how was she standing in the doorway again. John woke up.

            “Virginia?” John asked.

            “Yes, you're wife will be here soon.” Virginia answered.

            “What do you mean? You are my wife.” John said.

            Virginia was shocked. She knelt down in front of John, the stranger forgotten.

            “Virginia, what's going on? Where are we?” John was sounding more confused and agitated.

            “We're in a nursing home.” She answered timidly.

            “But… why?”

            “Dear,” Virginia sucked in a deep breath to steady herself, unsure of how to get the next words out, “, you have Alzheimer’s. I couldn't take care of you by myself anymore.”

            “Oh, honey, I'm so sorry. How much you must have suffered because of all this. Why haven't you just left me?”

            The same question the stranger asked. Virginia looked up at him, but he just stood there with his back to them, as if not listening to their conversation. She hadn't had an answer before, but she seemed to have one now.

            “I was waiting to be able to say good bye to you. I didn't want to leave you without you knowing that I loved you and I'll always love you, but you are not the man I know now, and I'm not the woman you love anymore. I'm so sorry, but I want to go on and live on my own. I've never done that. And until now, the thought scared me, but not anymore. Now that I can say good bye to you properly, I think I can face my own uncertain future properly.”

            John took her hand and kissed it. “I understand.”

            Virginia hugged him hard and he hugged her back. They kissed their final kiss, and John was gone. She looked up.

            “I'm so sorry for that ma'am. I don't know what came over me.” John said. He was flabbergasted because he didn't understand why he had kissed this old woman so lovingly on the mouth. He got up and left the room.

            “Thank you.” Virginia said

            “Whatever do you mean.” It wasn't a question. He knew what she meant, but she answered anyway.

            “Thank you for helping me decide what I really wanted to do and to make a choice. Yes, it would have been wonderful to make that next journey together, but there's a journey I want to take on my own now. Thank you for giving me the option. And thank you for letting me say goodbye.”

            The stranger walked out of the room after John, and Virginia walked out of the nursing home to follow a different path.