Appointment With Love
By: Sulamith Ish-Kishor
Six minutes to six, said the clock over the information booth in New York's Grand Central Station. The tall, young Army officer lifted his sunburned face and narrowed eyes to not the exact time. His heart was pounding with a beat that shocked him. In 6 minutes he would see the woman who had filled such a special place in his life for the past 13 months, the woman he had never seen, yet whose written words had been with him and sustained him unfailingly.
Lt. Blandford remembered one day in particular, the worst of the fighting, when his plane had been caught in the midst of a pack of enemy planes.
In one of his letters, he had confessed to her that he often felt fear, and only a few days before this battle, he had received her answer: "Of course you feel fear...all brave men do. Next time you doubt yourself, I want you hear my voice reciting to you: 'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for Thou art with me.'" He had remembered; and it renewed his strength.
Now he was going to hear her real voice. 4 minutes to 6.
A girl passed close to him, and Lt. Blandford started. She was wearing a flower, but it was not the little red rose they had agreed upon.
His mind went back to the book he had read in training camp. Of Human Bondage, it was; and throughout the book were notes in a woman's writing. He had never believed that a woman could see into a man's heart so tenderly, so understandingly. Her name was on the bookplate: Hollis Meynell. He had gotten a hold of a New York City telephone book and found her address. He had written, she had answered. The next day he had been shipped out, but they had gone on writing. For 13 months, she had faithfully replied. When his letter did not arrive she wrote anyway, and now he believed he loved her, and she loved him.
But she had refused all his pleas to send him her photograph. She had explained: "If you are feeling for me has any reality, what I won't look like won't matter. Suppose I'm beautiful. I'd always fear that you were taking a chance on just that, and that kind of love would disgust me. Suppose I'm plan (and you must admit that this is more than likely) then I'd always fear that you were going on writing to me only because you were lonely and had no one else. No, don't ask for my picture. When you come to New York, you shall see me and then you shall make your decision."
One minute to six...he flipped the pages of the book he held. Then Lt. Blanford's heart leaped.
A young woman was coming toward him. Her figure was long and slim; her blond hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears. Her eyes were blue as flowers, her lips and chin had a gentle firmness. In a pale green suit, she was like springtime come alive.
He started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was wearing no rose, and as he moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips.
"Going my way, soldier?" she murmured.
Uncontrollably, he made one step closer to her. Then he saw Hollis Meynell.
She was standing almost directly behind the girl, a woman well past 40, her graying hair tucked under a work hat. She was more than plump; her thick ankled feet were thrust into low-heeled shoes. But she wore a red rose on her rumpled coat. The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away.
Blanford felt as though he were being split into two, so keen his desire to follow the girl, yet so deep his longing for the woman whose spirit has truly companioned and upheld his own; and there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible; her gray eyes had a warm twinkle. Lt. Blandford did not hesitate. His fingers gripped the small worn, leathery copy of Of Human Bondage, which was to identify him to her. This would not be love, but it would be something precious, a friendship for which he had been and must ever be grateful.
He squared his shoulders, saluted, and held the book out toward the woman, although even while he spoke he felt the bitterness of disappointment.
"I'm Lt. Blandford, and you -Miss Meynell. I'm so glad you could meet me-may I take you to dinner?"
The woman's face broadened with a tolerant smile. "I don't know what this is all about son," she answered. "That young lady in the green suit begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said that if you asked me to go out with you, I should tell you she's waiting for you in that restaurant across the street. She said that it was some kind of a test."
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| A Collection Of Love Letters |
