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"The Hue from Shore" Part 5 in a series

How far away do you pack your dreams?

Tim's thoughts of Mindy gradually diminished, but never completely faded. What had nearly consumed him at times in high school was now mostly just a memory. His life had been a full one, with growth and varied experiences, and as the years after high school passed, he increasingly put those years in unfavorable contrast with his life afterwards. On those occasions where he showed someone his yearbook, though, he would always get at least a twinge of warm thought about Mindy.


After the tenth reunion (which he didn't attend) he received the update book, and hers was one of the first names that he thought to look up. She was married, which didn't surprise him. She'd met her husband in Chicago, which did surprise him, as Tim had been living in Chicago for 18 years. What brought her there? Had she lived there, or did she meet her husband on a visit? Had she ever even known that he was there? He caught himself in the kind of retrospective speculation that only frustrates. But he was puzzled by the circumstances of Mindy meeting her husband. The two paragraphs in the reunion book didn't give him enough information in that regard.


Almost ten years later, the 20th reunion approached, and he began to look forward to it. He wasn't thinking of Mindy on any kind of a regular basis by then, really hardly ever. She was married, and had aged 20 years (just like him...) even if she was single, he figured that whatever attraction had existed would have faded. Mindy represented a part of Tim's past, and not much more. He was thinking about how his life had gone well in many respects, and he felt good about re-confronting some of his life from 20 years ago, and experiencing the favorable comparison his current life represented.


He arrived in Edina the day before the reunion and spent some time with his parents. It was a little stressful there, but he expected that. Neither Bill or Jay was going to the reunion, too bad, but he hadn't been in regular touch with either of them for a few years. Tim had talked to Mark Kantner, not so close of a friend in high school, but always a reliable buddy, more so in his visits over the last decade or so, and they were going together.


They got to the Ambassador hotel as the event was beginning. Tim was pretty pleased as he started to mingle, and realized how happy people were to see him. People were even excited to see him. He had a series of good conversations, and was surprised to find himself regretting in retrospect the reunions that he'd missed. It was almost an hour into the event, and he'd gotten in a pretty good mood, and was very happy to be at the reunion. Then he left the small group he was sitting with to use the restroom. He noticed a few people he hadn't seen yet as he walked across the other side of the hall.


Then he saw her.


...to be continued