Gregory and Arianne

The glint of light from the half-moon reflected easily off the bayou Gregory liked to fish in a few feet away from the graveyard. As usual, he was the first to arrive. Leaning against the sprawling oak, he was thankful little had changed from last summer. It was slightly overgrown with the newness of spring, but Arianne would love the lush green kudzu spreading across the light grey stones. He didn’t come here often, but when he did it was usually to clear his mind, yet Gregory always left with more to think about than when he arrived. The lure to read the broken markers or take a nap under the old oak was as hard to resist as the woman he made love to on a blanket next to the water years before. After the end of their affair, Arianne would bring Pike and the three of them would just sit for hours. It was salt on his open, bleeding wound but it was the only time in his adult life he felt like he had a real family. Gregory realized she’d given him everything she could knowing how much he wished Pike was his. And somehow that was enough. He saw the boy’s first smile, heard his first word, and helped him take his first steps. In the safety of that cemetery – the Potter’s Field – where the unknown and indigent were buried, where their very own sins were laid to rest…their life together found validation, it was real.

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