Inspiration

Janie wanted to be a writer. Now she had her chance and did not plan on blowing it. When her English teacher announced the contest for the best short story with a prize of publication for the story, Jane could hardly believe her luck. This was an opportunity she wasn't going to blow which meant she needed a great idea and an outstanding story.

She was using every spare minute but had not yet come up with a story idea that she felt was good enough. She worked at a coffee shop after school every day and was using her breaks at the coffee shop to work on story lines. One afternoon while sitting at a table in the front window of the coffee shop, she watched an elderly woman walking down the sidewalk. She stopped and sat on the bench directly across the street from the coffee shop. The bench looked out over a small park with a playground and open green space. Janie had seen the woman before doing the same thing. She would sit on the bench for half an hour or so, then she would get up and slowly walk back the same direction she came from.

One day, as Janie watched the lady, she saw an elderly man approach the bench from the other direction. When he got to the bench he leaned down and kissed the woman sweetly and sat next to her, holding her hand.

All of a sudden, Janie knew she had her story. She used the old couple to write a story about an elderly ghost couple. Once she started writing, the story flowed easily and quickly. When she finished it, she knew it was the best thing she had ever written.

The teacher agreed with her. She won the writing contest in school, aced her class, and got her story published in a collection of short stories.

The next day as she watched the old lady coming to meet her gentleman at the part bench, Jane wondered who they were and what their real story was. Why did they meet like that every day? Surely, they weren't having an affair at their age.

Every day that week, Jane watched the elderly couple meet on the bench. On Saturday she decided to find out what she could about the old couple so she took a couple of coffees and headed across to the bench.

When she approached the bench with the coffees, the old woman took her cup and gave Jane a radiant smile and a thank you, but when Jane tried to hand the gentleman his coffee, the woman looked at her with wide eyes.

"You can see him?" The woman asked with amazement.

"Yes, of course, I see him." responded Jane.

The woman touched Jane on the cheek and smiled sadly at her. "You are a remarkable young woman. My husband, James, died ten years ago. This was our favorite place to spend an afternoon, so I come here every afternoon now to relive the happiest days of my life."

Janie did not know what to say. She told the lady about her story and how seeing the two of them gave her the idea for her story. The lady was glad Janie shared the story with her and the two of them became friends.

Many afternoons, the two of them talked and Janie learned what love truly was and what was important in life.

Eventually Janie went off the college. She studied hard and wrote every day. By the time she got her degree, her first book was in publication.

Janie went back to the coffee shop, anxious to see the lady that had been a such an inspiration to her life.

When she got to the coffee shop, she asked the owner about the woman, if she was still coming to the bench every afternoon.

The owner of the coffee shop looked at Janie strangely. "Honey, how do you know about Mrs. Hudson? She died with her husband in an accident years before you started working here."