My mom had been out at the bar, where she always was. My friend Crystal had come over to help me pack and to celebrate our final goodbye for a while. Crystal had brought some supplies for making cocktails and we were quite inebriated by the time that she left. I walked her out to her car and we said our goodbyes. I told her she shouldn't drive home, but she insisted. I was stumbling back to the apartment and saw Mr. Roper sitting outside on a folding chair.
"You're up late Mr. Roper," I said. The meager patio lighting seemed to accentuate his long scraggly eyebrows and the age spots on his wrinkly little forehead.
"Yes, Hannah, well, I heard you outside and I was hoping to catch you. I was wondering if you could help me with something?"
"Of course!" I told my sweet old neighbor. He was so frail and always needed help with something. I didn't mind helping him. He stood up carefully, positioning his cane for support, and walked slowly into his apartment. I followed. By the time we made it inside, he was quite exhausted and needed to sit down. I sat too.
I had been in his apartment several times but this time was different. He had managed to drag out every picture and piece of memorabilia that he had of his wife and family. He noticed me looking and started talking about them. It wasn't long before he began to tear up.
"Mr. Roper, are you okay?" I asked.
He silently sobbed. "Today would have been our 69th anniversary," he said to me. "Do you know that we had 6 boys? And they have kids and those kids have kids and altogether I have 40 something great-grandchildren that I've mostly never even met." He blew his nose loudly and continued. "I've been so lonely since her passing, but my time on this Earth is growing short and I can't wait to be with my wife, Edith, again."
"I'm so sorry for your loss," I said.
"Do you have kids?" He asked between sniffles.
"No. I'm only 19."
"Edith and I were 19 when our first son was born, but times were different then. We were already married."
I decided to focus on the positive. "It sounds like your marriage was full of love. Six kids? Wow!"
"It wasn't always great." He replied, "I haven't been able to get an erection since the mid 60's."
"Oh, Mr. Roper... I don't think that's any of my business."
He continued. "You see every year on our anniversary I would make love to her using a cucumber."
"Well um... I'm glad the two of you are able to find something that works for you." I said, trying to stifle my giggling.
"Yes, it sure did. She was quite satisfied."
"Um, excuse me Mr. Roper, but you said that you had something that you needed help with?"
"Yes, I did. I was hoping that you can help me get a bottle open." He slowly rose and made his way to the kitchen. I heard the refrigerator door and soon he returned with a plastic grocery bag. He sat it on the coffee table. In his other hand, he held two glasses. He then reached into the bag and pulled out a bottle of wine. "This was Edith's favorite. Can you help me open it?"
It was very sweet of him to continue to celebrate his wife like this, so I obliged. He poured each of us a glass and I took a sip it was delicious. I complimented him on the wine.
He continued telling me about his wife and all the beautiful reasons that he loved her. We drank and talked and my heart was filled with admiration for the love that he shared with his wife. As he poured the last of the bottle into my glass he looked at me embarrassed He stumbled a bit on his words and finally he said " Hannah... I was wondering if you would... let me put the cucumber in you tonight?" He looked terribly uncomfortable and I felt sorry for him. "I just miss her so much and I feel it's the only way to honor our anniversary"
"Oh Mr. Roper I don't think that would be a good idea" I stammered.
"Hannah that was terribly hard for me to be able to ask you. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't trust you. Please think about it. You're about to leave the state, aren't you? I may never see you again." He begged.
I thought about it, this poor old man with this simple request. He wasn't asking for much just a few minutes to reconnect with his wife. I took a long hard look at this pathetic old man, longing for a shred of something from his good old days. Clearly, I'd had too much to drink and my judgment was impaired so I blurted out "Sure, what the hell." I chuckled nervously.
His face lit up and I could see that he was the happiest man on Earth at that very moment. It was then that I realized that the grocery bag on the coffee table contained said cucumber.
He told me to go into his bedroom and in the bottom drawer of the dresser, I would find Edith's nightgown. He asked me if I would please put it on and get under the covers. I laughed at how crazy it was that I would even consider such a thing, but at that moment I cared about very little, except for getting out of town away from my mom.
I went into his bedroom that smelled of stale air, mothballs and Bengay. I found the nightgown exactly where he said it would be. I took off all my clothes and slipped the nightgown over my head. It was a very modest floor length garment with long sleeves, lace around the neck and each wrist, and buttons down the front. It was printed with tiny pink flowers and definitely showed it's age. I climbed under the covers and waited nervously, feeling silly. A moment later I heard him lightly rapping at the door with his cane and I said he could come in. He also looked very nervous, but happy.
"You are doing me a great favor tonight Hannah. I will forever be in your debt." He said.