This story! I'd lost it for the longest time and now I've found it, I think I want to do something with it.

Update! I'm doing something with it! I'm now writing this in episode form, like I did with Ash's story.

I started this one years ago - years and years ago!

Pictures from Google

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

---

“Watch,” he said, pointing towards the trees on the edge of the village.

Katie looked down the dusty lane to the copse of trees. One person emerged from the trees and looked around, confused. He leaned on a convenient stump, stooped over, his back bent from decades of hard work.

“That person is newly dead,” Harold said. “He will wander until his mind clears and he realises what has happened to him.”

They watched the man for a few minutes. Another person emerged, another male, younger than the first. The second man looked right at Katie and her grandad. He scowled as he studied them. Then he turned and walked away to his left.

“Where is he going? Doesn’t he want to come to Verdigris?” Katie said.

“Not everyone comes to Verdigris, Lambkin,” Harold said. “Some have their destinations mapped out for them.”

Katie’s attention moved from the recent man to the first one they saw. He looked to his right and to his left, bewildered at the choice, it seemed to Katie. He stepped forward and his face brightened. He grinned and held open his arms. A woman ran past Katie and her grandad, sprinting to the man.

“John! John is it really you? I’ve waited so long!” she yelled in her delight.

John’s back no longer bent to give him a stoop. He stood taller than when he had arrived and his face seemed more youthful, less wrinkled by age and pain. He stood by the copse, waiting for the woman to catch up to him.

They embraced each other as though they had been apart for centuries. Despite the distance, Katie heard every word of their conversation.

“You waited for me!” John said.

“Of course I waited. You asked me to.”

“I didn’t think it was possible,” he said, clasping her hands in his. “You look just the same as you did when… when…” he couldn’t complete the sentence.

She nodded. “I know,” she said gently. “Come on, let’s go.”

They wandered off together, holding hands and gazing into each other’s faces, studying the forgotten features, recalling memories they had made before one was taken from the other.

“Our son?” John said.

“He went on ahead. He couldn’t remember you and we thought it best if he didn’t wait for you.”

“Will he know me?” John asked, his voice tight with emotion.

“Of course he’ll know you, silly husband,” she said, laughing. “I have waited for you, just so I can say that again. My darling husband, I missed you so much.”