This is my last minute entry into Task 2 of Steemfluencer's Second Writing Challenge.
A long long time ago, in a country far far away, two young men trudged up a beach. That's where everything had started, on the beach, in the summer of 1944. The two men knew nothing about each other then, but over the course of that day, they learned to depend on each other, to put their own lives in the other's hands. That was the day they both managed to survive storming the beach of Normandy.
Image Source: The Atlantic
This is the story of friendship, love, and drama. The love started that day, when the two men supported each other as bombs burst, and gunfire roared past them. Each pulled the other out of harms way more than once. It was because of each other that the two survived to return home after the war ended.
Unfortunately, the end of the war meant the two companions were seperated. Tom returned to London, and Joey went back to America. Tom went to university and became an accountant. Joey became a mechanic and tinkered with cars. The men kept in touch, the only way you could in those days, by mail. Their letters went back and forth across the ocean, contact taking weeks to make it from one to the other. But the letters never stopped crossing that wide ocean, when you have been through what the two men went through, the love for a brother in arms could not be broken.
Both men found women to love and were married. Both had children who became the center of their universe. They raised sons and daughters. One of Joey's sons was named Thomas, and even went to school for accounting, just like his uncle across the sea.
They were ordinary men, leading ordinary lives. The heroics of their time in the army long distant memories. Eventually the children grew and moved on. Tom's wife passed away at seventy-eight. Joey was divorced in his seventies.
That truly brought the start of our story. Divorce did not sit well with Joey, and he sank into a depression that was more a threat to his life than any bombs or guns in the war. In the end, it would be Thomas who saved his life once again. His son, Thomas, suggested a trip to London to see his old friend for the first time in decades. Tom's wife had recently passed away, and the companionship would do both men some good.
Tom is still the best accountant in town, though he has long since retired. He passed his firm down to his grandson who had expanded the company, and even hired Joey's son to open their first office in New York. Tom still consults with his grandson from time to time.
Image Source: Pixabay
But mostly the two men sit in the park, playing chess and feeding the birds. Tom is 94, Joey is 95. They don't get around like they used to. They share stories about the good old days. The younger generations come to sit and listen. Tom and Joey are fixtures in the little town outside of London. People come to listen to them tell their stories, bringing bird seed for the men to share with the pigeons.
Today Tom and Joey make the best of each moment they have. They don't have much time left, both men know this. They are happy for the time they have had, neither imagined on that long ago day in Normandy that they would make it this far. Each breath is counted a blessing. They enjoy visits from Grand Children, and even Great Grand children. Their days peaceful, enjoying each other's company as they settle into the twilight of their days.
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And then they died...
Image Source: Pixabay