?It's nice here in the park, man,? Socrates said.
For a long while after that the two men sat in silence.
?So what happened?? Socrates asked.
?What??
?With your boss and that girl??
?Oh. Moses and his girl on the side.? Milton squinted his eyes, trying to remember. ?Yeah. He set her up. Got her a little place down offa Adams. Went to see'er every day almost. She had a baby. Named him Moses. And you know I had it made after alla that. I mean Moses loved me almost as much as he did Cherry. After all it was me broke the ice. Every time a promotion was due I got it. I was his second in command after only three years. That way I could cover for him when he was spendin' the afternoon over with her.
?Oh yeah that was real love there. Even before she proved it I knew that Cherry loved that man. You know he couldn't leave his wife. All them kids and the grandkids kept comin'. Nobody would'a had no sympathy for him so they kept it quiet. Cherry didn't care though. She used to make his lunches and send 'em through me.She knit him sweaters, never complained as far as I knew. And when he got sick with the heart disease and he couldn't even get up outta the bed Cherry used to bring me little notes that I'd take up to his house on Fridays an' show'im. And every time he'd tell me to tell her that he loved her and that when he was better that he'd leave Sophie and come be her husband.?
Socrates noted the heaviness in Milton's voice.
?You know I don't think that they never knew each other at all,? Milton said. ?I mean they was in love but the worlds they lived in was so different. It was just somethin' about the way she ate her lunch and the way that man loved her even though he had a whole world someplace else.?
?Did they ever get married?? Socrates asked.
?Naw,? Milton replied. ?He got weaker an' weaker. Finally he just died. I took Cherry to the funeral actin' like she was my girlfriend. But I think Sophie musta known sumpin' wit' the way that Cherry carried on. You know I don't think that there was a black woman ever lived would cry so hard for me as Cherry did for that fat old Jewish man.?
Milton bit his lip and shook his head. He took the schnapps bottle out of his pocket but it was empty.
Socrates got down on the grass and stretched out. He put his hands behind his head and let his eyes wander with the big white clouds.
?They all gone,? said the man who was named after a poet.
?Who??
?Yo' friend. My friend. Cherry's alive but she ain't here no more. It's just all like a dream.?
?What happened to Moses Junior??
?I got him a job as a mail carrier. You know I tried to help Cherry out after Mo was gone. But I wasn't in on all that love.?
Those were the last words Socrates heard for a while. He fell asleep with blades of grass waving in the breeze, tickling his bare arms.
An hour or so later he woke up. Milton was still sitting on the bench, watching the boats.
They rode home in amiable silence. When Milton let Socrates off at his alley door he said, ?See you in a month, Mr. Fortlow??
?I hope so,? Socrates said.
?Did you go to Mr. Burke's grave?? Darryl asked Socrates early the next morning at Bounty.
?Uh-huh.? He was using the big floor buffer to strip the wax from aisle seven two hours before the doors to Bounty were due to open. Darryl had been given extra hours to help Socrates. He did that often so he could talk to the older man.
?Was you sad??
?Sad??
