A LOST FLAME(Bernie Martin) This was an affair nearing its end. Was that the right word? The phrase "elongated encounter" better described it. His lunchtime walks in the park with Marie had petered out. If he went at all it would be alone.
In his hand was a stone he had kept from the previous summer. Smooth, flat, grey and precious. Marie had stood on it when they had taken a detour and she had nearly slipped over. Instead she had fallen into Ken's arms - the first time they had embraced each other. Somewhat appropriate that it had been by accident. She could never understand why he had wanted to keep it.

On it he had written,
"The romantic gesture, something I hadn't planned
but oh so typical. A place, a stone, words so bland.
They are left with the coming of the rains to wash away.
Romantic acts are lost on you. They're for yesterday."

He went to the park on his own and left it close to the spot where she had fallen into his arms. When he told her she asked. "What does it say?"
"You'll have to go and get it to find out."
"More games Ken?"
"No, not games. More a puff of air for fading embers."

Four weeks later Ken was nearing the end of his 3 months' notice. He went alone to the park. The stone was still there, the words just about visible. There it would stay - a gesture, the last act.

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