Secrets

In Forsythe Park in Savannah there are several park benches. But there is one under a mossy oak with shrubs nearby that has its secrets. A few years back a young man and woman met there. After that they would visit often. He proposed there and she accepted. It was where they sat and planned their future. Some evenings after they were married they would return and cuddle and talk. Then when their child was born they brought it with them. And the next two children too. They would play in the park while the couple sat on the bench and watched.

The bench has other secrets too. For a while it was the bed for a homeless man. He slept under the stars in the summer, and newspapers and a ragged blanket in the winter. sometimes in his sleep he would dream of his past and what he had lost and cry out in the night. For two winters he stayed there. Then one morning he didn't wake up. No one knew his name. The bench did but it didn't give up its secrets. The bench knows of a family in another town in another state.

Once two young men set on the bench and planned the robbery of a nearby store. For three days they met and planned how it would be done. Then on the night of the robbery the bench watches across the street as the two young men carry out their plans. But they are spotted as a police car rolls by. The young men run and shots ring out. One young man falls beside the bench as he gasps his last breath. The bench hears his silent prayer "forgive me" but it doesn't give up its secrets.

neon_sapphire