Layla and her husband were driving through the Catskills of New York State. Neither spoke, they just listened to classical music and admired the beautiful colors of the leaves changing with the autumn weather. Yellow, red and brown trees surrounded them along with a perfectly blue sky. Layla’s husband Michael held her hand with his right hand; and maneuvered the car with the left hand.
Michael couldn’t believe how lucky he was, he and Layla had been married for 15 years. It hadn’t been easy, he’d admit that – but it had been worth it. Layla was the perfect wife; she took care of him – almost too much some times. It began when they met. She was his ‘cheering section’ when he went to law school. After graduating, he opened his own practice with what was left of their savings and borrowed from her personal trust fund. A trust fund that had been left to her for her continued education. But she gave it to him, having no desire to further her education for any type of career of her own. She joked that Michael was her career.
So her job was to take care of him. She always had his breakfast ready, his clothes ironed and ready for work, his bag and any client files he may have been studying the night before. Everything together so he could just eat, pick up his stuff and go. It wasn’t uncommon for her to drive to the office and bring something home-cooked for lunch and she always had dinner ready on the table when he got home. She dressed up for him every night and always wearing make-up and expensive perfume. In addition she made sure the house was perfectly clean. He was so lucky, women like Layla were hard to come by, and he did not know what he’d do without her. Plus he didn’t care to think about being without her anyway. She was not only the perfect wife, she was his best friend.
“There’s a great spot for our picnic” Layla pointed to the left where there was a little dirt walking path that led to a picnic table. Michael pulled over and opened the door as he started to get out, Layla grabbed his arm. “What’s wrong?” Michael said.
“I don’t know Michael, but I think I have to tell you something….now. Something doesn’t feel right.”
“Is everything okay?” he was disturbed at the scared look on her face and the fear in her voice. He had never seen her like this.
“JUST LISTEN MICHAEL” she yelled. This is the first time Michael had heard her even raise her voice. “I LOVE YOU..NO MATTER WHAT, I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU AND I WILL ALWAYS BE THERE WITH YOU.” “NEVER FORGET HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU.”
Michael said “I know that” and he opened his door and jumped out of the car to rush over to open her door, get her out of the car and give her a hug. Just as he closed his door a truck swerved on the road. The driver lost control and the truck skidded quickly toward the car. Reflex made Michael run backwards away from the truck. Layla screamed for Michael and was smacking her hands on the window. Michael looked directly in her eyes and she whispered “I Love you” as a truck with a blown flat tire, going at least 60 mph, slammed into the car. He stood there helpless as the car was hit by the truck. The car slammed into one of the trees and burst into flames. He was paralyzed as he watched his wife burn to death in a crumpled car. Everything went black.
Michael’s next memory was waking up alone in his bed. To him it felt as if the accident had been yesterday, but actually it had been four months. He was in a fog, unaware and uncaring of his surroundings. He got up and went to the bathroom and then to the closet. Nothing had changed in his house. All of Layla’s belongings were still there. Her brush was where she left it, her pajamas were still on the floor where she left them the morning of the accident, and all her perfume and clothes still took up all the space in the walk-in closet. He walked into the kitchen and stopped, staring at the calendar. It was his birthday today. He hadn’t kept track of that, he didn’t even know or care what month it was. He pulled the calendar off the wall and threw it in the trash and started to walk over to the coffee pot. Suddenly he froze. Sitting in the middle of the table was what looked like a birthday card with Layla’s writing on the front. He closed his eyes, shook his head and looked again – it was still there. He reached for the card and started to cry. Her writing was so beautiful, and the card smelled like his favorite perfume. Carefully, he opened the card and it simply said “I LOVE YOU..NO MATTER WHAT, I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU AND I WILL ALWAYS BE THERE WITH YOU.” “NEVER FORGET HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU.”
Everything went black.