The cold wind attacked me as I wandered downtown Portland, trying to find inspiration for a photograph. My instructor’s words circled my mind, “A photograph is worth a million words.” I looked around at the old buildings that cast odd shadows in the moonlight. The smell of trees and gasoline fill my nose as I pass an old broken down car. Thinking of the perfect picture that could express any emotion, an idea comes to mind as I walk down the path. I slide my hand along the cold railing as I look out onto the water. The waves make the moon dance and the stars twirl to the sound of rustling leaves.

“It’s gorgeous isn’t it?” A soft voice called behind me, I turn my head to see an older looking woman sitting on a bench a few feet away from me. She smiled nicely at me, her teeth shining bright in the moonlight.

Yes, it is. How come you’re out here so late?” I asked her, stealing a quick glance towards my watch, it was roughly 1:45 AM.

“Oh nothing just passing the time, when you get old you get bored. My husband loved this spot, I think that’s why this is my favorite spot.” She said, patting the seat next to her, beckoning me to sit with her. I shrugged my shoulders as I went to sit on the bench with the kind woman.

“Where’s your husband?” I asked, watching her eyes look down for a moment before returning her everlasting gaze on the water.

“He’s in a better place; perhaps he’s watching us now.” She said, clearing her throat a little. I glanced at her, letting her take a moment to collect herself.

“I’m sorry, that must be hard.” I muttered to her, “I know it’s not easy. Maybe you could tell me about him, yeah?” I asked, hoping to hear a story. Maybe one of her stories might trigger some creativity for me.

“Okay, but it’s long.” She chuckled, lightly shaking her head making her white curls bounce.

“It’s okay, we have all night.” I said, leaning back on the bench as she let a hearty laugh out. A bird chirped above us, laughing along with the woman.

“My name is Karen by the way.” She said, holding out her hand. I gently took her frail crinkled hand, afraid it might break.

“Hello, I’m Tom.” I said giggling like a school girl as the wind tickled my neck.

“That was my husband’s name, it’s unique, the type of name that stands on its own.” She whispered, looking up at the full moon, “He was wonderful, honestly he was an amazing guy.” Her eyes glazed over as she remembered all those memories.

“How did you meet him?” I asked, crossing my legs.

“As bad as it sounds, we actually met in a bar. He was starting out as a bar tender while I was just a regular there. When he started, the place felt different. Even when we met it was like time and space just paused. It was like…” She said drifting off into a memory.

“Magic…?” I suggested, bringing her back into reality.

“Yes, that’s the word. Magic.The one word that describes indescribable things.” She muttered, leaning down to pick up a rock from the ground. She rubbed the smooth surface, twisting it in her fingers.

“You what really made Tom special?” She asked, looking up at me. The moons reflection made her eyes look huge. “When he asked me out, he actually cut napkins into the words ‘Will you got out with me Karen?’ Can you believe it? Napkins, out of all things, he chose napkins. It was adorable how he turned red and got embarrassed.” Karen chuckled, answering her own question. I laughed; if I did that same thing then I would be red as well.

“Romantic, isn’t he?” I asked, watching a leaf slowly fall from the sky.

“Oh yes, you should hear about the time he asked me to marry him!” She laughed, smiling fondly at me. A sudden gust of wind blew leaves towards us as she kicked her feet under the bench like a little girl.

“Please do tell me.” I smiled, intrigued by her stories of this love struck man. We paused as we heard sirens cut through the emptiness of the night. The police lights made the trees shadows dance and flicker.

“Tom and I decided to take a road trip to Seattle. Before we left I had made some homemade bread, from scratch. On the way we were snacking on it and he looks at me and says, ‘did you make this?’ I nodded, thinking that something was wrong with it. ‘This is delicious, how’d you learn how to make homemade bread?’ I told how my mother taught me at a young age, it was her favorite. He just looked at me like I was an alien; he would not believe that I actually made the bread. After I defended my case, stating that I would never lie to him about something as simple as food, he just nodded. Then he said, ‘since you can cook homemade bread, I think you should marry me.’ I was shocked, truly shocked. We had only been going out for about 9 months, it was a quick proposal.” She told me, spinning a gorgeous wedding ring on her finger. It was a lovely princess cut white diamond with small blood red ruby’s surrounding it.

“For a man of romance, you’d think he would have gone all out.” I observed, watching her ring spin.

“That’s exactly what I thought, but he told me that when you know that you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, then not everything will be perfect, but it will be perfect for the both of you. It was perfect, I got to spend the rest of his life with him, and I couldn’t have thought to do it with anyone else.” She said, her lips trembling a little. I patted her back gently with reassurance as she calmly wiped her eyes.

“Do you have anyone special in your life?” She asked me, turning towards me, her eyes twinkling with curiosity.

“No, I don’t. Hopefully someday, I’m on the lookout but no one’s caught my eye.” I shrugged, my stomach twisting as I realized that Karen had years of love and lost and all I’ve had is lost.

“Tom, listen to me. She’s out there and she’s waiting for her knight in shining armor to rescue her. Don’t give up boy, trust me.” She smiled at me, making me blush a little.

“What do you do without him?” I asked her; curious on how she copes with having her love gone.

“Truth is, I just dream about meeting him again. I miss him terribly, but I know that once I die then I can be reunited again. Perhaps in another life, or in heaven, or just be spirits in the ground.” She said looking out to the river which had bigger waves as the wind grew.

“Was it true love? Or was it the ‘I love him but he could be better’?” I asked more questions arose from me as I listened to her talk about him.

“Hun, what Tom and I had was pure magic itself. I never doubted that I loved him, so in my world, that meant that it was true love.” She said her eyes filled with excitement and love and kindness as she would talk about him. My chest grew warm as I felt the love between them, as if he was just sitting right next to us.

“What is love to you?” I asked, wondering what ‘her world’ considered love.

“Love is one of those things that you can’t explain but you can feel it. Someone told me that the most powerful magic is love because it can break anything and do anything. It can go terrible, like Romeo and Juliet, or it can be a lifelong fairytale, like Cinderella and Prince Charming. Depends what the problem is I suppose.” She said wisely, tilting her head in memory, making her look younger as the wrinkles disappeared out of the moonlight.

“Did you have to settle for him?” I asked, curiosity getting the best out of me.

“Nope, sure we had to compromise on things but that’s life. I was completely happy with him; I don’t think that there were any moments that I had regretted when I was with him. I swear my only regret is that I didn’t spend enough time with him when I had the chance.” She said, letting a tear escape her eyes.

“I’ve never heard anyone talk about someone that way. You make him sound like he was your everything, like he was the most awesome, amazing, totally loveable person in the entire world. How do you do that?” I asked, hanging on to every word she says.

“Because it’s true, every word of it, he was my everything, and he was awesome, and amazing, and completely loveable person. He was just Tom, but he was my Tom.” She said, laughing a little as some more tears poured out of her crystal blue eyes.

“I’m happy for you, at least you got to cherish the moments that happened. At least you experienced love at its finest.” I smiled at her; she nodded as she wiped her eyes, her smile never leaving. I asked her politely if I could take a picture of her, remembering my assignment, which she gracefully replied with a nod and happy sounding ‘yes’. I got up and walked a couple feet behind the bench, realizing that the sun was rising. She sat on the left of the bench as I got a good angle of her looking at her right with a wide meaningful smile. I snapped my photo and thanked her for her time and for the lovely stories.

“Tom, thank you for listening and sitting with me. I enjoyed your company.” She said, taking my hand in hers and holding them like she was my grandmother. I gave her a hug, showing her how grateful I was for everything that I had learned from her. We said our goodbyes as I headed to print the photo.
I stood in the dark room, printing my picture of Karen and analyzing it to see if it looked perfect. As it came out, I noticed that there was a white smudge next to Karen on the bench. I looked closely and saw details and what looked like a face.


“Tom?” I asked myself, peering closer to see a ghostly white man sitting on the bench. I nearly fainted as I stood corrected; Tom was sitting next to Karen in the photo. My heart raced as I remembered that no one was at the park except for Karen and me. This must truly be a ghost, unless I’m imagining this. I stepped outside, briefly being blinded from the bright lights. I looked down on the photo to see the same man sitting on the bench. I laughed a little, unaware of how I had managed to capture a ghost on film.

A few hours later it was time to show our final projects. I’m next, I thought to myself, trying to keep my heart beat down.

“Tom, you’re next.” My instructor called. I stood up with my picture and placed it on the canvas holder.

“My picture only says 5 words, but in many ways.” I said, taking off the veil to reveal Karen and ghost Tom sitting on the bench. The class gasped as they realized that Tom wasn’t just a smudge, he was an actual person.

“Tom, did you use any special effects?” My instructor asked, coming closer to the photo. I shook my head and told them about how Karen and Tom met, how he asked her to marry him, the photo, everything. For the first time, I’m actually proud to call this my work.

“Wow that is an amazing and touching story. What were the 5 words?” My instructor asked me. I had already had this planned, so when he asked I smiled and said what came to mind when I look at the picture.

“True love at its finest.” I said, earning an ‘aw’ from the class, I couldn’t help but blush a little as I realized how cheesy that was. Maybe I’m turning into Tom, maybe when I thought I felt his presence he gave me some romantic juice or vibes.