Summers Gone By

He was an exceptional friend, my Danny. He always had a smile for me, and sometimes it was just to give me comfort. Stopping by his gravestone one bright summer day, I looked at it and read the familiar words, no longer taking note of the short time between the date of birth and date of death. But remembering all the good things we had between us, a little tear slipped from my eye. I turned to leave the cemetery and almost ran into a young man coming my way.

Jumping back slightly, I looked at him in surprise.

“Sorry,” he said lightly, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I shook my head and wiped the tear away. “That’s quite alright.”

I couldn’t help but stare at him, he looked so familiar. But I only looked for a moment before stepping past him to leave. After a few steps, I turned halfway around just to look at him again. He was kneeling down by Danny’s grave, his shoulders slumped and his head bent solemnly over. Almost as though he could sense me watching him, he looked up.

“Did you know Danny?” I asked curiously.

He nodded. “I knew him as Daniel when we were young. I confess I wasn’t around much as we grew up.” He gave me a welcoming little smile. “I take it you knew him well.”

“We were best friends,” I shared. Then returning the smile, I continued, “I’m Lily.”

“I’m Joshua,” he replied.

I nodded, repeating his name and taking a step closer. “What were you doing just now?”

“Just thinking…”

“Does it help to close your eyes?”

A smile played on his lips. “Maybe.”

I took a chance on his welcoming nature to sit next to him in the grass and looked him in the eye. He really did look familiar. In fact, he looked so much like Danny, I would think they were brothers if I didn’t know better.

“Closing my eyes makes the memories come back faster,” I told him.

He nodded again and replied softly, “It makes mine go away.”

“Is that what you want?” I asked.

Joshua glanced soberly at the gravestone. “Sometimes,” he spoke quietly.

How curious that the same action that let me remember good times seemed to give him solace from memories. It made me wonder what kind of memories they were. But having only just met him, I dared not ask. Instead, I watched the play of emotion on his face and only wondered.

“How long were you and Daniel friends?” he asked.

“About five years,” I replied, “I met him the first day I moved here with my parents. I was at the mall by myself and he held the door open for me.” I laughed as I thought of it. “Sounds old fashioned and cheesy, but it was a conversation starter and we were friends ever since.”

Joshua smiled at my story, a congenial twinkle in his eye resembling Danny’s that day he held the door for me.

I returned the smile. “Are you related?” I asked. That would certainly explain the resemblance.

He nodded. “Dan and I were cousins. But as I said, I wasn’t around much, especially not at the time that you met him.” He paused then, and a sadness clouded his features.

He must have been older than I originally thought, but he had boyish features and eyes like carob. His voice had a welcoming tone to it, even though his face looked disheartened.

“I hated it when we moved here,” I confessed, “I didn’t want to leave our home town, but my grandmother was very ill and we moved to be closer to her…”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

I laughed. “We were told she wouldn’t last much longer. But she’s alive today and no longer sick. Ever since she started feeling better, she’s been telling me that God healed her.”

Joshua smiled, the cloud dissipating. “I think He has.”

I looked at him for a moment, pondering Joshua’s words and God’s actions. With a shrug, I asked him, “You believe in God?”

“Absolutely,” he assured me, “It’s the only thing that makes sense to me now. The only thing that explains… the Earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, us, people…”

I’m sure my raised brow expressed some incredulity, but it came naturally. “Does it explain why He spares a fragile eighty-seven-year-old woman and lets a strong young man die?”

“No, Lily,” he replied, his voice full of genuine concern, “I really can’t explain that. I do know that the bad things that happen are not because God wants them to happen.”

“No,” I agreed, “I suppose the bad in our world is our own fault. But I can’t help but think it just isn’t fair.”

He gave me a sympathetic smile and patted my shoulder in a friendly way. Unconcerned by his touch, I looked again at Danny’s gravestone. I had told myself to quit being angry with God. I had even asked Him, though with little faith, to help me. Joshua also looked quietly at the gravestone and I found myself wondering what was going through his mind. It was strange that I only met him moments ago and I was beginning to feel like I had known him for so long.

“Thanks, Joshua,” I said with a smile.

He turned half confused eyes to me. “What for?”

“For being here now.”

A smile spread across his face and twinkled in his eyes. “Come on,” he replied, rising and giving me a hand up as well, “We’ve been in the cemetery long enough today. Take a walk with me?”

“Sure.” I was happy to walk with Joshua, leaving the cemetery behind and all good memories of Danny in the back of my mind rather than the foreground of my thoughts.

“And Lily…?” he spoke again.

“What?” I looked at him. He was still smiling at me.

“Please call me Josh.”