Only Time Will Tell

Only Time Will Tell(Christa Sagmoe) Basil Anderson lay in his bunk in the dilapidated army barracks. The Winter Wind Howled and the rain leaked in through all of the many cracks in the ancient roof. But Basil was oblivious to all of this. His stomach was churning from a mixture of terror and excitement.

'I can’t believe I’m really here. It seems like yesterday I was joining up. And Now I’m getting ready to go to the front in only a few short hours… 3 years of war and now I’m finally going to be in the thick of the action!' He Fumbled with his jacket pockets and pulled out a photograph.

Marie st. Claire… His Fiancée. They were to be married as soon as this dreadful war was over… Her eyes gleamed up at him mischievously and her face glowed with love. He remembered the day that picture had been taken with a smile.

The Door banged open jarring Basil from his thoughts... And in Walked burly Sargeant Peters. He had never met such a brutal and cynical man in all his life. If you even looked at the man wrong you’d be on latrine duty for a week. 'Something I know about first hand… If only I could keep my mouth Shut...' He turned his full attention to the sergeant who had finished his inspection.

“Alright men. This is what you’ve trained for.. so get out there and fight for your country.”

As the men made their way to the trenches the tension was so high that it could have been cut with a knife. Gunfire rang out in the distance. As it drew nearer Basil Flinched. His mind a whirlwind of activity. 'Geez.. What did I get myself into? I don’t belong here.. But it’s to late too go back now'.

The men got into the trench and found their assigned positions. Basil looked around him. The men in his unit seemed to be just as nervous as he was. The man next to him fumbled with his ammunition before dropping it all to the ground… 'And I thought I was nervous. Seems I’m not the only one'.

Shots rang out and the battle began… the trench was alive with activity, loading and reloading. He bent down to reload but when he rose up something stuck him in the head and all went black.

“Hey there’s another one over here….” Basil heard faintly, before again succumbing to unconsciousness….

“He looks pretty bad… get a stretcher over here right now….”

As the doctors and nurses worked around him Basil remained unconscious. He lay there oblivious to all the chaos going on around him, and remained so as they transported him to the nearest hospital.

Basil began to dream….

He was in a dark forest and in front of him he saw a beautiful young woman. She had long raven hair and her eyes were the color of violets. She stretched out her hand, beckoning him to come to her. But his feet felt as if they were made of stone.

She looked at him sadly and said, “Return to me, my love”, and then she turned and disappeared into the forest. His legs were then freed from their weight, but it was too late. The beautiful creature had vanished.

As he began to struggle to consciousness the aching in his head gradually began to grow worse. He struggled to open his eyes and began to peer owlishly at his surroundings.

A rotund, curly haired woman in a white uniform held his wrist between her fingers, taking his pulse. She then looked down to find him staring up at her… His gaze was one of extreme bewilderment and fear… The panic became so intense that he could hardly breath. 'I must calm down. I must calm down! But I can’t think!' He tried to raise himself up.. Big mistake! That only made his head hurt worse.

“Calm yerself down lad. No need ta get yer’self all worked up. Yer quite safe here. I’m Nurse O’reilly and yer at St. Mary’s hospital.. What might yer name be?”

“I… He struggled to form the words as his mouth and throat were as dry as parchment… I don’t remember…” tears of frustration rolled down his cheeks. He blinked them away furiously, but to no avail. They made their way down his face in little rivers.

“There, there laddie. Ne’er ye mind that. Weel get ye all patched up and then ye’ll be right as rain in no time. Yer memory will cum back… Just give yerself a little time… Weel I'ma goin ta get ye some gud hot broth. Ye haven’t eaten a thing these past three days and yer stomach weel be thankin’ me to be sure.”

And with that she bustled out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her. As basil lay there staring up at the ceiling the gears in his mind began to turn. Who had that lovely creature in his dream been? 'I have to find her.. I have to.. But how? What if I never get my memory back? I don’t even know my name or where I’m from. I must have had some form of identification on me when they found me. I’ll ask the nurse when she gets back…'. The door opened suddenly and his nurse carried in a steaming bowl of broth. Basil’s nose twitched at the tantalizing smell of the broth. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was.

“Now ye eat up all this gud broth”.

Before she could give him the first spoonful he asked…

“When they found me did they find any identification in my clothes?”

"Weel as I heard it, lad. The enemy had over run where ye were entrenched. They’d evidently went through yer pockets while ye were unconscious. Thank goodness the medics found ye when they did. Or ye’d ne’er have made it. Come on now, Dearie. Let’s get some of this broth down yer throat.”

As Basil ate the broth, his heart sunk. Would he ever remember his past and find out who the raven-haired beauty was? Only Time would tell……


Several weeks and bowls of broth later, Basil was on a hospital ship back to Nova Scotia. One of nurse O’reilly’s sons had been in Basil’s regiment and identified him when he visited his mom, while on leave.

'So now I know my name and were I’m from… But the rest is still a big blank. How will I ever find that woman from my dream… If she even exists…'

Missus O’reilly, who was on the hospital ship with him, came to his bunk with a steaming bowl of soup.

“Here ye go lad. Eat up all this gud soup, and I’ll be back in a little while to get yer bowl” She turned to leave…

“Wait”

“Yes, Basil?”

“I wanted to thank you for coming all this way… So far from your homeland to see that I got home alright."

“Think nothing of it, laddie. Now ye eat up all that soup and I’ll be back after me rounds”.

Once Basil finished his soup his eyelids became heavy and he began to dream… He was running through the woods, trying to find the lovely woman who had disappeared from sight.

Suddenly the name “Marie” leapt to his lips.

He jerked awake… Marie… Marie St. Claire… Memories began to flash before his eyes. Walks along the wharf… Kissing beneath a large oak tree… Him kneeling before Marie with a ring in his hand… her waving as his ship departed….

Nurse O’reilly then entered the room. Basil’s face radiated happiness which the nurse picked up on immediately.

“Faith! What’s happened lad. Ya ha’ that’ look o’ an angel”

“I remembered… I’m starting to remember. You know the girl I told you about, from my dreams?”

“Aye”

“We were engaged to be married”.

“Engaged, laddie? Are ye sure?”

“Yes, It’s becoming very clear.”

“Well congratulations, laddie. I’ll bet ye can hardly wait for this here ship ta dock. I heard the captain say we should be dockin’ around breakfast time ta ‘morra morn. So ye get yerself a gud night sleep."

Basil smiled to himself… the future looked bright… Very Bright indeed.

~

Basil made his way down the gangplank from the ship to the wharf below. His nose was assaulted by the smell of salty air and freshly caught fish. He was home! Basil scanned the wharf for Marie’s face. But she was nowhere to be seen. His heart sunk in his chest. And he began to make his way to the nearest boarding house, when suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Basil?”

He whipped around at the sound of a woman’s voice…

“Marie!” he enveloped her in a bear hug, before releasing her reluctantly.

“Basil, we thought you’d died… We were so worried, and then when we received news that you were missing we’d all but given up hope. It’s so good to see you’re back.”

“Marie, I’ve got so much to tell you…” Marie put her fingers to his lips silencing him.

“And I’ve got so much to tell you. So much has happened since you’ve been away. There’s someone I want you to meet.”

She took his hand and walked in the direction of a large hotel. They walked into the richly decorated foyer and then through into the tea room. As they drew near to a table where a distinguished young gentleman was setting reading his newspaper and drinking a steaming cup of coffee, Basils’ heart sunk. The man looked up and seeing them a smile lit his features…

“Marie, there you are.”

“John there’s someone I want you to meet. This is Basil Anderson… he’s an old friend of mine.”

'Friend? We were more than friends once.' He took the hand the young man offered him.

“I’m glad to meet any old friend of my fiancée’s.”

'Fiancées… Did he say financee? Why I’ll show that little…' Rage filled him, but it was Marie’s hand that held him back, pulling him aside.

“Uh, honey we’ll be right back”

Marie led him to the front porch of the hotel... he then whirled around to face her…

“You got engaged?! What about us?”

“Basil you have to understand. We thought you were dead… And then the bank called in the mortgage on our families’ house. John was the only one I could turn to…”

“But.. why? How can you love him after what we had?

“I can learn to love him. He genuinely loves me, and I can’t have my family turned out.. It’s the only way….”

“But it’s so unfair.”

“Nothing is fair these days Basil. This is something I have no choice in. just know that I’ll always love you. You have my heart and always will… So please don’t’ cause any trouble… We can still be friends….”

Friends… Couldn’t this beautiful woman standing before him understand that being just friends would never be enough. He needed her as badly as he needed air to breathe.

He saw tears begin to gather in Marie’s eyes… he couldn’t bear to see her cry. He nodded silently. Before she turned to go she gave him a quick kiss and then turned to re-enter the hotel.

As he watched her leave he thought of the age-old phrase. ‘It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all…' Never a truer phrase was spoken….

The End