Week 5 Story: Remember Me

Remember Me

It was a cold winter day, Efren walked into the town’s Pawnshop for some tools he needed for his latest project. He had to fix the horse stables that his father had been nagging him to fix for days. He grabbed what he needed and walked to the cashier to pay. He rang the bell ready to see Mr. Rodriguez

the owner of the shop, he wondered why he was taking so long. He was in a bit of a hurry; it was getting late and he needed to catch the last bus. He heard footsteps coming from behind, he turned to greet the older man but instead he was met with the most beautiful women he had ever seen. She had long dark black hair, big sparkling brown eyes, long eyelashes, bright fair skin, and a long slender body. “Excuse me how can I help you,” she said. “Excuse me, are you ready to pay?”. Efren stood there staring at her like a statue, he finally shook his head and came back to reality 

“Uuumm… yyehhes please” His eyes were fixed on her the whole time she wrote down his items. 

“Thank you for shopping with us have a nice day” she said nicely with a smile. Oh, her smile, it made

Efren lose his mind once more. He was so nervous that he could not even utter a response. “Your so stupid, you have been speaking for years and today is the day you decide you can’t speak ughhh. You didn’t even ask her name” he said to himself as he face palmed himself. He wasn’t one to believe in love at first sight, however, that day he believed “She will be the woman I will love forever and marry” he thought to himself as he walked to the bus. 

The next day. Efren gathered all his courage as he made his way to the pawnshop. He was determined to capture her heart. This time he got a little more information about her. Her name was Ana Lucia, she had a soft voice but also demanded authority when needed. Ana Lucia had just moved here from her old town. He also realized she was not easy to win over, she was cheeky, sarcastic, outspoken and independent. With a very strong personality, she made it known she was not going to fall so easily. After their first date, Efren said, “Goodnight my future wife” 
“Future wife?” Ana Lucia said with confusion in her voice. Ana Lucia just laughed and said, “We’ll see about that”. As days went by, they spent more and more time together, their attraction for one another becoming stronger and stronger. They started officially dating, and a year later after many overnight shifts and 50 different jobs, Efren finally had enough money to buy a ring and propose to Ana Lucia. However, his plan to surprise her failed as she was much smarter than him and figured out what was happening, it could also have been that he was sweating buckets and acting more unusual than ever. Ana Lucia still cried when he pulled the ring out and a few months later they had their wedding. They had 5 wonderful children. Of course, they had their arguments and disagreements but their love for one another never stopped. Till this day every time Efren saw Ana Lucia his heartbeat beat like the first time and the butterflies in his stomach continued to be present. 

“Excuse me Mr. García but it is time for her medicine and nap” said a nurse. 
“Oh. Okay yes excuse me, I’ll take my leave goodnight”. It took all strength on him to stop himself from going and kissing her goodnight. Today was April 4^th, their 70^th anniversary. Today, just like everyday Efren would go visit Ana Lucia and retell her their love story hoping one day she would remember him again. It had been hard to cope with Ana Lucia’s Alzheimer’s. At first, he had cried many nights when she started to forget him, he had lost all hope, but it made him feel better that he was one of the few people Ana Lucia allowed to get close to her. Ana Lucia would be startled by people and would get very defensive when they approached as to her as they were all strangers to her. However, Efren was different she couldn’t explain why but she felt safe with him, his presence felt comforting to her. “Efren, I’m sorry your cancer had expended too much, there is nothing we can do”. As he laid in his bed, he remembered his doctor’s words, this was 3 years ago, he did not know when it would be his last day, his biggest wish was for Ana Lucia to remember him before he left. He out of his bed and went to sneak into Ana Lucia’s roomed, there she slept fondly he kissed her goodnight and left. He knew it was close as his body felt weaker by the day. It pained him to leave but he knew that she would one day meet him again. In the afterlife they can be happy together again, he thought happily as he fell to sleep. “Mr. García, Mr. García! Call the doctor now!” the nursed screamed frantically. Ana Lucia looked out her window it was a cold gloomy morning, rain dropping nonstop. Suddenly she felt extremely unbearable pain in her heart, without her knowing tears streamed down her face. She cried uncontrollably with heartache, after many hours of crying she finally whispered some words “Efren….Efren” “ You have left me all alone” she sobbed.

Authors Note: Remember Me was inspired by the book Nine Ideal Indian Women by Sunity Devee, specifically Shakuntala's story. My inspiration was the part were Dashyanta her husband forgets all the memories about her and exiles her from the palace. However, he is able to remember her, asks for forgiveness and she forgives him and they live their lives happily. More, than the book, my inspiration came from my grandparent's story. They loved each other very much and were always very affectionate towards each other. My grandmother suffers from Alzheimer's, when she started to forget him my grandfather suffered a lot he would often retell her their love story and also to us his grandchildren. He would say, that way their love would never die and always live among us because even if she forgot, there would be people that always remembered their love. When my grandfather died, my grandmother cried without knowing what was going on that day she remembered him and said her heart hurt. I always loved hearing their love story and even though some changes were made I thought it would be nice to share with others. 

Image: Two people forming a heart with their hands from Pexels