She turned toward the bookstore and glanced at Randall’s arm as he automatically opened the door for her. They entered the store together, and then went their separate ways. The story of their marriage – together and yet apart.

Books were piled on tables helter-skelter. Looked like they were on sale, mark downs or discontinued. Books were also stacked on the shelves from floor to ceiling along the wall. She started with the nonfiction and glimpsed a book about the Cosmos, new discoveries in our universe.

Over here was a reissue of a classic, THE LITTLE PRINCE. A book she had read and reread, full of philosophy and observations on human nature together with something magical. A children’s tale, but so beautifully told she always cried at the end.

Hmmm. A book about celibate marriages caught her attention. The dust jacket claimed being married and remaining celibate could drive a woman crazy. I can believe it, she thought. After five years of marriage, we’re just roommates now.

Linda walked up an aisle looking closely at the hard back books on sale. Pausing at a table, she turned a book over to read the jacket and suddenly, she heard a chorus of a thousand voices. The music swelled into a thousand instruments along with the voices. She looked up, trying to locate the source while thinking the store had turned the volume up really loud. She searched her memory to place the composition.

The music was even grander than the Hallelujah chorus – ethereal, divine and heavenly music. She looked around to see the reaction of the other people. Nothing. No reaction at all. She still heard the music and looked for the loudspeakers, then suddenly realized, it must be all in her head. What is going on? Why am I hearing this…?

She moved quickly across the aisles, looking for Randall, but he was out of sight. Then a movement outside caught her attention – a man surrounded by sunlight was walking up to the entrance of the bookstore.

He somehow seemed familiar, as if she knew him intimately. The music in her head grew even louder. She felt a strong compulsion to approach the man, but hesitated while she studied him – dark hair and eyes, better than average looks, wearing a white sweater and yet there was a presence about him, an aura.

Finally, Linda realized she couldn’t remember ever meeting him before. He was a stranger to her. While she was turning these thoughts over in her mind, he had come into the store and paused at a table of books on sale. The same table she had left just moments ago.

She started toward him. Maybe she could think of something to say by the time she reached him. Surely, he could hear the same music, feel a similar pull – like a strong undertow…. But the stranger was moving away, back toward the door.

And now, Randall was coming into view and moving her way. She was moving toward the stranger and her husband was moving toward her. She thought, We’re revolving like celestial bodies moving in a stately dance to unearthly music that only I can hear. Can’t the stranger hear it, too?

It was too late. The arrival of her husband had slowed her motion. While she hesitated, the dark-haired man moved out the door without even glancing her way. As if he had come into the store on impulse and then changed his mind.

She hadn’t been able to attract his attention in time. She wanted to follow him out into the street because the need to touch him in some way was so strong.

Randall drew near and intruded on her thoughts, “I thought you were getting ready to leave.”
Yes, I was getting ready to leave, she thought to herself, but merely shook her head. She fought to keep her whole body from shaking. I was ready to leave with a perfect stranger. If I had left you months ago, then I would’ve been free to follow my impulses and trust my instincts.

The music was fading, dying, as the stranger moved away. Still, she felt the urge to follow and was tempted to run after him. With tears in her eyes, she strained to hear the choir, so splendid and divine she wanted to remember always. But, the music cut off abruptly when the stranger passed from view. Will I ever understand what happened here? Will I meet him again some day? In another time and place.

The End?

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