He swore she was an angel.  Of course, even after they both grew old, he still swore to it.
   She was beautiful, just sitting there on the low brick wall, her hand idly drifting in the river below her.  Her blonde hair shone even in the pale light of the morning sun, her lavender dress show off her curves in all the right ways.
   Why, if he had enough money for a camera… he looked around, running a slender hand through his long black hair.  He spotted an old man sleeping next to an easel and a few charcoal pencils and paints, and grinned.
   The black haired boy smiled to himself as he set up the borrowed easel ten feet or so away from the girl, whistling some unknown song.  He picked up a pencil, and stared at the angel in front of him again for a minute.  She didn’t seem to notice, and he started sketching.
    After a few minutes, she finally realized someone was watching her, and turned around, trying to find her observer.  She spotted the boy, her eyebrows rising at him.  He smiled.  She had to have the prettiest face he had ever seen, so soft and perfect, and her eyes were the clearest blue he had ever seen.  She really was an angel.
   “Can you turn back around?” he called to her, wanting to finish his sketch.  She pointed at herself, and he nodded.  She rolled her eyes at him, but turned around anyway.  He wondered if she thought him an idiot, but shrugged it off and went back to sketching.
   After about ten minutes, he smiled proudly at his sketch.  It was good enough for him.  He went over to the girl, sitting next to her, handing the canvas to her.
   She smiled at him, taking the canvas.  She studied it for a second, and started laughing.  The sound was like music to his ears, even if she was laughing at his sketch.
   “I ‘ope ‘ou do not do zis for a living,” she grinned at him, her accent thick.
   “No artist can possibly capture the beauty of an angel on paper, my love,” he purred, taking her hand.
   She snorted. “Sir, you flattery iz far ‘oo bold.”  She was smiling, though, encouraging him.
    “But how can one not possibly compliment such a pretty girl like you?” he asked, kissing her hand.  She blushed, and he grinned at her.
   “Would ‘ou mind if I... ah… returned ze favor?”  She turned from him for a second, putting her bag on her lap.  She took out a sketch pad and a pencil from it, and set the bag back down on the ground.
   “Oh, not at all, not at all.”
   She looked at him for a second.  “Do ‘ou want me to draw you with zat silly smile?”
   He blinked, and smiled wider.  “Oh, sorry.”  He tried to look more serious, but failed at it.  She laughed, and started sketching him.
   He couldn’t help but smile every time she looked up at him to get a reference, and she rolled her eyes at him every time.  He didn’t mind, though.
   She finished in less time it took him.  She smiled at it, and handed the pad to him.  He looked at it, and was slightly surprised.  It looked exactly like him, it was perfect.
   “I think you’re better at this than I am.”
   She laughed.  “I ‘ave had practice before.”
   “I can see that,” he nodded.  He had noticed that she had drawn him more serious than he had looked every time she glanced at him.  Maybe she had snuck in a glance, when he was staring at the river.
   “’Ou cannot tell me zat ‘ou always look so… happy,” she said, seeming to notice what he was staring at.
   He shook his head.  “I honestly can’t remember the last time I ever smiled this much.”  He laughed, realizing how sad that sounded.  “Maybe it’s because you’re just so beautiful.”
   She looked as if her cheeks would stay their soft pink tone forever.  But he took her glance as interested, that she wanted to hear his story, so he continued.
   “I’ve lived in California for most of my life, ‘cept I was born somewhere between there an’ New York.”  He snorted, knowing how obvious that sounded.  “Anyway, my father owned some land south of San Francisco, but I left ‘cause I wanted to see the world.  So, I ended up here, somehow.”
   He smiled.  Sure, his story sounded lame, but at least it was better than what most of the people who worked on that land came and left with.  At least she still seemed interested.
   “If you don’t mind me asking, why’re you here?”
   She blinked, and smiled.  “I am from France,” she said, and he nodded, recognizing her accent.  “I go to an… ah… what ees zee word?  Etiquette school, and zey take zee graduating class to England every ‘ear.  Zis ees zee first time I ‘ave been out of my country.”  Her tone was polite, but her face said otherwise.
   “You don’t like it there, do you?”
   She looked surprised for a second, then her features went dark.  “No.  It ees… ah… boring.  ‘Our life sounds interesting, but I ‘ave been stuck at zat school,” she spat, her hatred almost tangible.
   He laughed nervously, wanting to see her smile again.  “My life isn’t all that great…” he trailed off, noticing that she wasn’t paying attention to him.  A bell had rung in the distance, probably telling the time.  
   She stood up, putting her bag over her shoulder.  “I should be going,” she muttered.  She turned back to him, a smile instantly lighting up her face.  “Thank ‘ou for ze ah… wonderful time, monsieur.”  She started walking away, and he frowned.
   He grabbed her wrist, turning her around and pulling her to him.  She blinked at him, her eyebrows raised again.
   “I, uh, didn’t catch your name.”  Well, that, and he didn’t want her to leave.  But he didn’t want to sound like a selfish jerk.
   “Oh!  It ees Melodi.”  She smiled slightly, waiting for him to let go of her wrist.
   He grinned.  “What a pretty name, for a pretty girl.”  He let go of her wrist, still smiling.  He then looked as if he forgot something, and bowed slightly.  “Forgive me, dear Melodi, where have my manners gone?”  He took her hand again, and she watched him, trying not to laugh.  “My name is Sanos, fair maiden.”  He kissed her hand, and she really did laugh this time.
   “I really do ‘ave to leave, Monsieur Sanos,” she said, smiling as she curtsied.
   “Oh, well… can I see you again?”  He was desperate; he didn’t ever want her to leave his sight again.  He knew she was meant for him, even though they hadn’t even talked that much.  She was just too perfect to pass up.
   She hesitated for a second.  “Tea tomorrow?  I am ah… staying over zere,” she pointed across the river, at a brick building the black haired boy recognized to be a hotel.
   “Oh, that’s where I’m staying, too,” he smiled, not wanting to mention that it was in the lower and cheaper part.
   She smiled back at him, and, waving, turned around and started walking briskly back to the hotel.
   He sighed happily, sitting down on the brick wall again.  This had to be the best day ever!  An angel was his soul mate, what could be more perfect?


   “You have a beautiful name, you know.”
   She dropped a few cubes of sugar into her own tea, and stirred it.  “It ees spelled wrong,” she frowned, taking the cream.  “My parents, zey do not know very much Eenglish.  Zey though it was an i instead of a y.”  She poured some cream into her own cup, then offered it to Sanos, who shook his head.
   “Well, that makes it all the more unique, don’t you think?”  He picked up one of the small sandwiches in front of him, examined it, and stuffed it into his mouth.  “It’s not every day you meet someone with a name that seems to describe them.”
   She laughed, mainly at how rude he was.  He didn’t seem to catch on, though.  “Tell me,” he said, leaning closer to the blonde girl, “do you live up to your name?”
   Melodi smiled slightly, shrugging.  “I suppose.  I ‘ave been told I ‘ave a very nice voice, although I zink zat it ees ‘oo… ah… deep.”
   “Of course not!  Your voice is just as beautiful as the rest of you.”  She blushed again, shaking her head softly.
   “I do play ze ah… violin, and a few songs on zee piano.”  She took a sip of her tea, after letting it cool slightly.  It was still bitterer than she was used to, but she didn’t particularly mind.  She did, however, notice that Sanos hadn’t even touched his cup.
   “Is that what they teach you at that school?  How to be a good girl and play instruments no one has the time to listen to anymore?” he said sarcastically, snorting.
   She stared at him for a second, her eyes wide.  She had never heard anyone be so blunt her life.  But she shook her head.  “Zey also teach us ‘ow to be disturbingly over polite,” she said nonchalantly, waving it off.
   He laughed.  “I think it’s cute,” he purred, winking.
   “Of course ‘ou do, zat is zee point.  To get married to a wealthy man, who zinks us pretty or cute or zee like, zen take care of zee ‘ouse and zee children, and be well taken care of,” she huffed, taking another sip of tea.
   “Well, I’m not all that wealthy, and I think you’re more than pretty or cute,” he said, looking like a sad puppy.
   “Are you implying something Monsieur Sanos?”
   “I suppose I am,” he smiled now, looking giddy.
   “My parents would hate ‘ou.”
   “All the more reason, don’t you think?”
   “I… my Eenglish eesn’t good, I wouldn’t be very good in America.”
   “You’re just making up excuses now.”
   She snorted into her tea cup, and hastily put it down.  “Fine, zen.  I want a proper proposal…” she paused, staring at him as he stood up.  “Sit down, I am not done.”  He huffed, pretending to be mad, but a smile broke through anyway.  She was actually letting him propose?!?  Ah ha ha, score.
   “’Ou ‘ave to ask my father, first, of course.”
   He blinked, a look of confusion on his face, which was quickly replaced with repulsion.  “What if he says no?”
   “Zen we go to America anyway, and elope.”  She shrugged, but he knew that the thought made her happy.
   He grinned, not minding one bit about how they did it, just as long as they did.  Seriously, one doesn’t meet their soul mate every day, and when one does, well… one has to jump in and take the chance, no?
   “I’ll just follow you back to France then.  When do you leave?”


   “Ils ont l'air si heureux ensemble.”  A few of the girls on the boat were watching the couple from a distance, sighing over the sight of just how good they looked together.
   “Elle est pratiquement rougeoyante,” another girl said, sighing again.  “Je voudrais pouvoir avoir le véritable amour comme ça.”
   “Oui, oui, oui,” they all agreed, frowning.
   Melodi smiled, able to hear them.  They weren’t exactly whispering, anyway.  The blonde girl and the black haired boy were leaning over the railing, staring over the ocean, trying to see if they could make out the main land yet.
   Sanos couldn’t help but look over at his love every other second, her beauty so pure that he couldn’t help but stare.  She didn’t seem to care, though; indeed, she did seem to glow at the attention.
   “What are they saying?”
   “Zey are… ah… what ees zee saying?  Green with envy.”  She snickered behind her hand, turning away from the girls and smiling at the boy.  “Some of zem are uh… what ees zee word?”  She looked angry, disliking the fact that she didn’t know a word, but continued on.  “Zey have arranged marriages, and most of zem ‘ave not even met zeir ‘usbands-to-be.”
   “Huh.  That’d suck.”  She nodded, agreeing with him.  He looked back out to the channel, sighing.  “How much longer ‘till we get there?”
   She pointed out across the waters, at the land mass that was slowly approaching.  “Anuzzer ten minutes, zen anuzzer ‘our by train.”
   He nodded, gazing back out to see again.  A sudden thought struck him, and he smiled at the blonde girl next to him.  “Why do you love me, Melodi?”  He knew she hadn’t ever actually said the l word to him, but he knew what she felt.
   She blinked at the question, slightly taken aback.  “’Ou make me laugh.  And… ‘ou are zee only one who talks to me.”  She smiled warmly, and he took it as a hint not to pry anymore.  At least, not now.  “Why do ‘ou love me?”
   “Well, besides the fact that you have gotta be the prettiest person the world has ever seen,” he smiled at her blush, “You’re the most intelligent, polite, perfect, and prettiest girl I have ever seen.”
   “’Ou said that already,” she giggled, not minding in the least.  He smiled kindly at her, and went back to staring over the ocean, thinking things over.  She covered his hand with her own on the railing, and he smiled wider at the warmth.
   He had to be the luckiest person in the universe.  Meeting his soul mate so soon in life, and when he wasn’t even looking!  True and passionate love-at-first-site was something one only read in books, or so Sanos used to think.  These couldn’t be real, it had happened so quickly.  Someone, quick, pinch me!  But thank the Gods, or whatever other deities were out there, that it was all real and true.  She was really standing next to him, his personal angel, the type of a girl he could only dream about before.
   She rested her head against his shoulder, her silver hair cascading down onto his shoulder.  He leaned his head against hers, not able to help the smile that continued to grace his lips.

   They were in the train now, speeding along the coast.  Melodi was watching the boy carefully, who was enjoying the scenery passing by.  She was memorizing his features, the way his dark blue eyes went in and out of focus constantly, the way his hair fell over his eyes like he never brushed it, the way the lines in his face disappeared when he smiled, even if it was only slightly.  She could tell he had a long life so far, even if it wasn’t very much longer than her own.
   She decided she didn’t like him looking serious.  It didn’t suit him.  He looked impossibly older, like he had seen too much in his life and shouldn’t really be living anymore.  Every time he stopped smiling, she wanted to say something, anything, to make him grin again.  He was her light when he smiled, and she didn’t want that to go away.
   Besides, he looked positively charming when he did smile, especially when she knew it was her that caused him to.
   He turned to her and, just as she had expected him to, smiled.  She waved at him and he laughed, leaning back into his seat, his hands behind his head.  He closed his eyes, sighing slightly.
   “Ees zee coast boring ‘ou?”
   “Naw, I’m just a little tired is all.”
   She nodded, turning to look out of the window instead.  She had seen all of this scenery before, having lived on the coast for all of her life.  “Tell me about ‘our life, Sanos.”
   He opened one eye, looked at her, and closed it again.  “It’s nothin’ special.”
   “Neither ees mine, but I still told ‘ou about it.”
   “True.  Like I said before, I was born an’ raised in the states.  My father owns a bit of land in California, swears he’ll make a livin’ off of it eventually.  I worked that land for a while, then my ol’ man decided to let me attempt to manage it.  Gotta tell you, I sucked at it.”  He shrugged, but she wasn’t looking at him.  “My family’s pretty wealthy, seeing as how my father sends all his crops out east by train, and they always pay a lot for ‘em.  California crops must be in demand, or somethin’.  Most of the men that work that land are pretty damned poor, and unlucky.  Haven’t got a penny to their name, poor bastards.”
   She was staring at him now, and he opened his eyes and blinked at her, letting his arms fall back down to his sides.  She looked anxious, or excited.  “What does zat mean?”  Her eyes were wide, and he finally got why she was staring at him like that.
   He hesitated.  “I shouldn’t be tellin’ a pretty girl like your self curse words,” he laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head.
   “Half of zee girls in my school… zey do not even know zee French curse words,” she said, her eyes returning back to their normal size as she sat back against the seat.
   “Do you?” he couldn’t help but ask.
   “My brozzer ees a sailor.”  She didn’t need to say more; he got the implications.  “Could ‘ou possibly talk slower?  I am not very good at Eenglish,” she added.
   “Oh, right, sorry.  I was almost done, anyway.”  He looked nervous again, but leaned forward and continued talking, only more slowly this time.  “My family’s better off than most of the people who come to work there, especially since we have each other.  My mother’s been searchin’ for someone to marry me off to… she’ll be delighted to meet you.  Mother’s always said I needed someone prettier than me to level my head a bit.”
   She laughed and he smiled again.  “She sounds nice.”
   “Oh, she’s the nicest lady I’ve ever met.  Well, after you of course,” he winked, purring.  She pushed him playfully, and he grabbed her wrists, pulling her into his lap.  He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and she wrapped hers around his waist.
   She sighed happily, squeezing him slightly.  She would never tell him she didn’t understand half of what he said to her.  It was all in the past, and it didn’t matter anymore, at any rate.
   “I love ‘ou, Sanos,” she smiled, burying her face into his chest.
   He pulled her closer, petting her shiny silky hair.  “I love you, too, Melodi.”
   The train continued on, thundering down the coast, the couple staying in the same position the rest of the half an hour.  The girl had fallen asleep in the boy’s arms, while he was still petting her, whispering sweet nothings into her ear.  
   She would remember something about their wedding and how grand it would be, something about how they would have many children (most of which were named Sanos Junior), and something about how they would grow old together and still be the happiest and luckiest people in the entire world.

   “She said ‘ou need to comb ‘our ‘air,” the blonde girl translated for the boy, who was standing slightly behind her, extremely nervous.
   “Your mother sure is picky, isn’t she?”  He paused for a second.  “Please tell me she doesn’t know English.”
   “Oh, no, none.”  He let out a sigh of relief, and fixed his collar slightly as the girl of his dreams said something in rapid French to her mother.  He had only known Melodi for a week, and was going to ask her father if he could marry her.  Well, things were going rather quickly.
   “My fazzer should be ‘ome soon,” she muttered to Sanos, who was still trying to fix his collar.  She smiled at him, trying to refrain from laughing, and reached up to help him.
   “I hope he likes me.”
   “I ‘ope he doesn’t,” she giggled, glancing at her mother quickly.
   The door opened, and Melodi turned around quickly, smiling at her father.  She had to, yet again, repress a giggle while Sanos played with her hair behind her.
   “Père!” she exclaimed, curtsying at the older man.  Sanos could see the resemblance between his lover and her father; she basically looked like a more feminine version of him.  Except, he noticed, Melodi had her mother’s eyes and jaw line.
   The black haired boy smiled extremely nervously, his features tense.  “Bonjour, monsieur,” he said, the only French he really knew.
   Her father stared at the boy for a good minute, almost as if he was trying to get a glimpse of his soul.
   He said something in French, and Melodi blushed horribly.  “He said zat zee only reason I would bring a boy ‘ome would be zat I ‘ad found ‘oo I wanted to marry.”
   Sanos laughed, enjoying the old man’s sense of humor.  He said something else to his daughter, who nodded.
   “Oui… he wanted to know eef ‘ou were American,” she whispered the last part to the boy, who was obsessing over his collar again.  She grabbed at his hands, though, and forced them back down.  He shrugged and snaked his arms around her waist.  He never saw her rolling her eyes at him.
   Her father said something else, and Sanos was glad he was holding onto Melodi, who practically fell over out of shock.
   “He… he said he wants ‘ou to marry me, and take me out of zee country as soon as possible,” she said, slightly stumbling on some words in a hurry to say them.
   Sanos blinked, a confused expression plastered on his face now.  “Ask him why,” he muttered.  It didn’t seem right, at any rate.
   She did, and a worried look spread across her face at his answer.  “Apparently we are at war…” she trailed off, biting her lip.
   Oh, well, that made sense.  If they were at war, then the sooner she got out of the country, the sooner she’d be safer.  He was only thinking about his daughter’s safety.  Sanos hoped he could be as good of a father as that, to let his daughter marry some guy if it meant that she would be protected.
   “Tell him I said thank you,” he muttered to Melodi, who did just that.  She curtsied again, than hugged her father, tears shining in her eyes.

   They decided to get married in the summer, as soon as they got back to America.

   But those plans were ruined.

   The United States officially declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917.  Two weeks prior, the couple had come back to America, happily ignorant of the world around them.  Two weeks after, Sanos found himself in France again.

   “Listen to me, baby, please.  If I die---”
   “Please, do not say such things,” she interrupted, clinging to him tightly.  She didn’t want to let go, never again.
   “No, listen to me.  If I die, which I’m not saying I will, there’s a note under my helmet,” he turned said helmet upside down and pointed at it, “and if I go MIA, then there’s the exact same note in the second drawer in the desk.”
   She hated him.  Why, why did he have to say such things?  And where did his smile go, the smile he always had for her?  This serious look made him look so old, and… she started crying, clinging to his jacket.
   “Please, please, do not leave, please,” she said through sobs.
   He smiled down at her, however sad that smile was.  “I promise, I will come back.  Okay?”
   She looked up at him, tear streaks staining her face.  “’Ou better keep zat promise or I will find ‘ou and kill ‘ou myself,” she sniffed, hiccupping.  He laughed, and she stared at him, trying to imprint that image into her head forever.
   “I have to go now, love.”  He pulled her away from him, and kissed her with more passionately than he had ever before, and finally left.
   The last words she heard from him was him swearing to her that he would come home.

   Days turned to weeks, weeks to months, months to a year.  No word at all, and finally the war was over.  But he hadn’t come back home yet.
   Every day, after the war ended, she watched out the window, waiting for her love to come back home.
   Finally, one day, a man in a uniform came to her door.  She practically screamed, and opened the door quickly, forgetting every lesson she had learned at that school.
   But it wasn’t him.  It was another officer… he handed her a helmet, and left, not needing to say another word.  She stared at the helmet for a second, then fell to her knees, tears falling from her already exhausted eyes.

   She found both notes.  They were identical in every sense.

Dearest Melodi,

If you’re reading this, than I suppose I’m dead.  I’m sorry I couldn’t keep that promise.  I swear, I thought of you up until the last second.  And I pray you think of me until your last second.

But I do have one request, my love.  I want you to move on, find someone else, and live a happy life with them.  Don’t mourn me; just remember the happy times we had together.  I wish we could’ve had longer than we did together.  There’s five hundred dollars in the locked drawer, and the key is underneath the desk.  Please, find someone new.

Please.  I wouldn’t be able to live (if I still were, of course) if you never got over me.

Forever Yours,
Sanos

   By the time she had finished reading the first one, the ink was near unreadable.  Tears continued to cascade down her face.  Her life, her light, her smile was gone from her forever, and she couldn’t stand it.
   How dare he think that she could ever move on!  She would never find anyone as good as he was, as happy, as simply perfect as he was to her.

   It was a year later that she realized she had no more tears to shed.  She couldn’t remember him very clearly, except that last smile.  And the picture she had drawn of him, that first day.  She wished she would’ve drawn him with that stupid smile.
   She hadn’t touched the five hundred dollars.  She knew exactly what he was saving it for.  She wasn’t going to spend their honeymoon money on herself.  She didn’t need it that bad, anyway.  Her family supported her, especially her parent-in-laws.

   It’s been a year…

   A year… since…

   Since… I left you.

   It was a year on the day, and on the hour, that she got a knock on the door.  Another man in uniform, another one she didn’t recognize.  She opened the door, the permanent empty look on her face barely changing.  She noticed he didn’t have a helmet.
   “You look even more like an angel than I remember,” the man laughed.