Anne was combing her hair for the - I don’t know how many times. She was putting her lipstick on, but was it the right colour? Did it look too bright for her age? Did she look over-dressed? Oh this was silly! She was behaving like a seventeen year old going to meet her first boyfriend. But, she was!

It had all started two weeks ago when her daughter Susan and son-in-law Tony came on their weekly visit. During the conversation, Tony said that his uncle Ray was coming home from New Zealand where he had lived for the last 35 years. Having been widowed with no children, he had decided to return to England and look up old friends in the area, especially a girl called Anne Sheppard.

"His name wouldn’t be Ray Stevens, would it?" she said in a very surprised voice.

Tony said, "Yes, it is!"

Well, it was all arranged before Anne had time to finish her cup of tea. They were to get together outside the cinema where they used to meet over 40 years ago. It was still there, but it was now a pub called the Frog and something. Oh what did it matter what it was called, she was a nervous wreck!

What did he look like; had he changed much? Had he put on weight, like she had, or gone grey? How would she recognise him? The only thing she knew was that they were both widowed. She had been very happily married for 35 years to her husband, Bill who had died six years ago. They had one daughter called Susan. Her teenage crush with Ray hadn’t lasted long; they only went out together a few times and it just finished. He always wanted to be with his friends and Anne with hers, but she had never forgotten him and she still thought about him from time to time after all these years.

Well, here she was on her way to meet him; she could see him in the distance already waiting for her. As she approached him he put his arms around her and said, "Anne, you have not changed a bit; you are still lovely."

Anne said, "I cannot believe that we are meeting here after all these years. Where has time gone? I could not believe it when my son-in -law, your nephew Tony, told me about you. I don’t know if you recognize this place from when it was a cinema called The Grosvenor, but it is now a pub."

Ray answered, "Well, if it is a pub, shall we try it? I would like to take you for a meal."

"Yes that would be nice," said Anne.

They went inside. It was hard to believe it was the cinema that they used to enjoy going to. Ray ordered the meal and wine and they were excellent. The conversation went on and on and before they knew it, two hours had flown by. Anne had not enjoyed herself so much for a long time. Ray escorted her home and asked her if they could meet again soon. Her answer was, "Yes."

Anne had a lovely feeling that this was the start of something good.

 BY  Margery Kenyon

   The Meeting       click play button for streaming audio