Many years ago, James remembered how his beautiful wife Berenice often sat across from him and feasted on the family’s leg of lamb. Things had been far different then. At that time, Stone still believed in a golden future for himself and for America. The young couple had been dreaming of the future, digging into the warm and tasty meat shanks, drooling over the combination of gravy, potatoes, celery, orange, lemon, and carrot spiced with savory, cinnamon, peppercorns and sea salt. As usual they had been making light conversation.
“This is very good,” James commented.
“Yes.” Berenice said, “and it’s even better than usual which I didn’t think was possible.”
“I agree.”
They ate in silence interspersed with political repartee so they could enjoy the atmosphere as well as the taste along with their soft conversations. Both were of the belief that cuisine was a national treasure that went far beyond mere patriotic borders and represented a bevy of cultures that blended together inside the nation’s millions of kitchens.
These were James’s Halcyon days. They were times when James’s future seemed not only golden but endless.
Later that evening, he slipped under the covers and held Berenice in his arms. Their son was sleeping down the hall. Everything seemed perfect. “I love you,” he whispered. She knew it. They had been married for years and had dated ever since high school.
Later, during the Iraqi and Afghanistan Wars the two of them had worn copies of their son, Brandon’s, dog tags both atop and underneath their shirts to remember him by. Every evening she spent with James, she smiled. “You are so good to me,” she said. “You know how to treat a woman no matter where we are.” Her lips nibbled his ear. They absorbed themselves in their embraces, then fell asleep. Tomorrow would be another busy day.
Today, those years were merely memories. Berenice was dead and so was Brandon. As for James, his life was totally different from what he had dreamed it would be. Now, he had more than several things to do and miles to go before he slept.