Driving home from work was always a pleasure for Kevin. It meant that he had survived another day and lived to tell about it. Thus was the life of a police officer. His main objectives every morning was to be safe and to survive his shift, all the while doing his job to the best of his ability. It hadn't been a busy day for him; two domestic violence calls, three traffic stops, one DUI, and one criminal trespass. All in all, it had been pretty easy for a Monday and he would be getting home on time for once.
He pulled into his driveway and parked in front of the garage knowing that he wanted to go grocery shopping that evening. Absently, he grabbed the mail from the box near the door as he let himself in. Kevin was now used to the quiet that greeted him every day. Except for his cat, Blaze, who was almost always disinterested in his master's arrival, there were no sounds except for the tick, tick, tick of the grandfather clock. He thought that he would never get used to her not being around and would always be listening for her greeting, but it had been four long years since he heard her voice and sometimes he just forgot what it was like. Sometimes, it still hurt.
Kevin put the mail on the table with his keys before he bent over and removed his gun and his ankle holster. He always dressed into his uniform at the district, but he was careful to have his gun with him going and coming. He had learned his lesson years before when an unarmed fellow officer was ambushed outside the district as he was coming in from the parking lot. Kevin never went anywhere without it, knowing full well that he was always on duty. He hung them inside his closet where other guns and holsters were kept.
He picked through the mail, mostly bills and advertisements, until he came across two identical envelopes. One was addressed to him and the other to Annie. It's been four years, he thought, and she still gets mail. He opened the envelope addressed to him. It was an invitation and at first, he thought it was for a wedding, but he knew of no one who was getting married. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was for a class reunion.
"Welcome Fairview Class of 1979", it began. "It's time, once again, to meet all of your classmates for our 25th class reunion." It went on about details for the event; a sit down dinner on a Saturday, and a family picnic the next day. Kevin thought it might be a good time, except for the fact of going alone. Kevin didn't date and he would sometimes ask his sister or a cousin to accompany him to police functions or awards banquets, but he wasn't going to ask them to a class reunion. Kevin had been to every reunion except for the 20th. Taking care of Annie had been more important to him.
He opened Annie's invitation and took out his pen. At the bottom of the RSVP, he carefully wrote, "Deceased 2000." He placed the response card in the envelope provided and put it on the table to go out in the next day's mail. After it was mailed, Kevin promptly forgot about it.
A couple of months later, while watching a baseball game in the evening, the phone rang. Kevin debated about answering it. He had a long, difficult day and had tons of paperwork to complete. He was tired, cranky, and had just settled down to watch the game. Kevin had played baseball in high school and college and he really enjoyed watching any baseball game. It usually didn't matter who was playing. Grudgingly, Kevin answered it on the fifth ring before the answering machine kicked in.
"Hello," he said, not too enthusiastically.
"May I speak to Kevin Simons, please?" a pleasant female voice said to him.
"Speaking."
"Hi Kevin, my name is Rachel McMichael and I'm on the committee for our 25th class reunion. I was Rachel Jorgenson in school. I was just wondering, we received the response card for Annie." She paused for a second. "I'm really sorry to hear that she died, Kevin. She was in a few of my classes senior year. She was always really nice."
"Thank you," he replied as he began to miss her again.
"We didn't receive a response from you," she continued, "and we were hoping that you'd come."
"I guess I hadn't really thought about it," Kevin replied. "It must have slipped my mind." Kevin remembered Rachel as being a tall, thin girl who played volleyball and basketball, but he couldn't recall seeing her at any of the previous reunions.
"Well, we'd really like for you to come. We've only a handful who aren't able to make it and we'd like to get as many as possible to make this a very special reunion."
Kevin mentally checked his calendar and couldn't think of anything that would interfere with it. Even if he went alone, it was better than sitting at home doing nothing. "Okay," he said, "you've convinced me. Mark me down."
"Great," she said happily, "it'll be good to see you again. Should I mark down a guest, too?" There was a moment of silence on the other end.
"No," he replied painfully, "there'll be no guest."
"Okay," she said, sensing that she had made a mistake by asking. "Anyway, it's next Saturday at the Gorman Banquet Center at six o'clock, and Sunday at Riverside Park at noon."
"Got it," Kevin said. "Oh, by the way, should I send you the money or should I just bring it along?"
"You can pay at the banquet, Kevin. That'll be fine."
"Okay, fine. Is there anything else?"
"No," she replied, "I think that's it."
"Great. Well, thanks for calling. It should be a great time," Kevin said, trying to convince himself.
"It was good talking to you, Kevin. I'll see you Saturday."
"I'll see you there. Thanks again, Rachel. Bye."
"Good bye."
Kevin put the receiver down and sank back in his chair. He sighed and was already starting to regret his decision to go. He had rarely gone out since Annie died, feeling that it was wrong to be happy and have a good time after all of the pain and suffering that she went through over those two years of hell. His sister, Jackie, had been after him to get out more and he always politely declined her suggestions to go out with some of her co-workers. He always said that it was too soon or that the time wasn't right.
"When will the time be right?" she asked.
"I don't know," he replied truthfully.
"Annie would slap the crap out of you if she were here."
"You're so right," Kevin managed a soft laugh.
He thought back to her last days when she made him promise to be happy for her when she was gone. And he was happy for her only because she was no longer suffering. But when she made him promise to marry again, he could only say the words, not believe them. He would have said anything to ease her mind at that point in time. How could he think about marrying again? How could he be happy with another woman? Annie was simply irreplaceable and it wouldn't be fair for anyone to be compared to her.
Well, he thought to himself, I'm not getting married. I'm just going to a class reunion. Kevin picked up the phone again and dialed. He waited two rings before it was answered.
"Hello," Jackie said.
"Hey, sis, you got a minute?"
"I don't know Kev. Those dishes really want to be washed and my hair is a mess, but I guess I can squeeze you in for a few minutes."
