12

The loud siren of the ship brought me back to the steamship. I could hear the sound of the waves and feel on my skin the breezy wind. I looked at my watch and realized that the stranger, who hadn't told me his name, had talked for more than two hours. On the far horizon, I could see the sunset and can feel the presence of a beautiful and innocent crippled girl lingered somewhere on the deck.

    I rose up and told him how much I was honored that he had chosen me for confidant. I added that I'd heard the dinner's bell and my friends and myself would be glad to have him at our table. I also told him that he could count on me to come up with a story as an explanation for his refusal to play Kreutzer. I didn't know if he had heard me or not for he was looking at a lock of hair that he had pulled out from his pocket and handling it as if it were a treasure.

    I understood how his revelations might have brought back sad and painful memories and walked towards the dining room so as to leave him alone with Stefania.

    At that exact same moment, the orchestra started to play a familiar tune. It was the Blue Danube waltz. I stared at the empty dance floor and, as distinctively as I could hear the music, I saw a beautiful girl in a white gown waltzing in the arms of young man somewhere in Austria. Both were laughing and everybody knew that they were deeply in love. Stefania, I knew from that moment on, that you will always live in my memory too.

    The sound of a body plunging into the sea and the cries of passengers on the deck brought me back to reality. People were screaming and running all around me. I stood still. I didn't need to turn back to know that a man had finally decided to dance the last waltz with his beloved.


The End.