Chapter 18: Joe

Joe slid the truck into gear. He slowly moved down the drive, and as they drove away, he yelled out the window to Henry. "Don't wait up, Pop! And stay out of the basement."

Joe leaned back inside; he hurried down the lane and pulled the truck out onto the main road. Elizabeth leaned back in her seat; she let out a big sigh and stared out the window.

"Well, isn't this is nice, Joe? Just like old times. Me, you and this old town."

She sighed again. "I love this place! Don't you love it here, Joe?"

He looked over at her and then back to the road. Joe shrugged. "I guess it's not too bad."

She turned back to the window.

"Well, I am glad to be home, even after I swore to my parents when I left that I would never come back. But now I realize this old place is just about perfect."

Joe scoffed, "I don't know about perfect!"

She turned to him. "Not perfect, huh? So, then what's perfect to you?" She looked at him intently. "What do you want, Joe Martinson?" she asked.

Joe looked over at her and then back to the road. He sat there for a long while, contemplating the question. "Hell, I don't know. I don't know what I want from day to day, let alone what I want out of life."

Elizabeth smiled. "Alright, Joe, one-line answers will only get you so far with me. What do you really want?"

He looked over to her as he took a deep breath. "You are direct, aren't you? Same old Elizabeth. You don't waste any time at all. You just get right to the point."

She smirked. "Well, Joe, I have learned to not waste time anymore, so just bear with me and answer the question."

He laughed again. "Well, then."

He shifted in his seat and took a deep breath. "Actually, I have been trying to figure out what is next. One minute I am taking a picture of an old barn and thinking of an old memory of-" Joe lowered his voice. "Well, thinking of an old memory of you, and then I'm running you off the road and-and now you're sitting in my truck."

Elizabeth stared at Joe.

"It's funny, isn't it?" She said

She began to smile.

"How one day your life is headed one direction, and then the next it's a headed down a whole new-old path." She said

"Funny. Well, I guess you can call it funny. Life was just fine with where I was-ªat least I thought it was-ªand I never would have expected to see you there on the porch this morning, not in a million years."He said

Elizabeth studied his face. The hard scowl he usually wore seemed to have slipped away. She looked at the soft curve of his chin and saw if just for a moment, the man that she had known and loved so long ago.

Joe looked over to her, seeing the silly look on her face. "What?"

She smiled and turned away, and then quickly changed the subject. "So, Joe, catch me up on you. Where have you been what have you been up to?"

He glanced over to her and then back to the road. "Well, there isn't much to tell. I've been here in Harrison for what seems like forever and that's about as deep as it gets."

Elizabeth bit her lip. "Uh-huh. One-line answers again, Joe. You know you used to be better at this."

"Better at what?" he asked

Elizabeth grinned. "Talking. You know, using your words!"

Joe laughed again. "Well, I guess I say only what I need to these days."

She reached over and tapped his arm. "Ok, let's try this again, Joe. It's just me and you, just like old times. What have you been up to? Tell me about you!"

Joe stared down the road ahead of him. He tried to focus in on his thoughts rather than on Elizabeth sitting next to him.

"Well, there isn't much. I guess. I didn't have a lot going on after the war. I spent some time traveling, trying to figure life out, and eventually came home to help dad."

She grinned, "Now, see, that wasn't too tough, was it?"

She turned sideways in the seat, so she was facing him. "What else? You came home to help your dad, and-"

"Well, Dad doesn't really need me around, but I couldn't have him in that big house all by himself." Joe's eyebrows raised, as he leaned over toward Elizabeth. "If you hadn't noticed, he gets around better than most people his age."

Elizabeth laughed. "He does seem to do alright for himself." She shifted where she sat "So, what's next for you, Joe? Where do you want life to go?"

He shrugged again. "I guess I haven't really thought about it."

She stared at him, remaining silent. She couldn't help but feel that the man she left so many years ago was in there someplace, but the war and time had taken a toll on him. Elizabeth changed the subject. "What's this experiment of yours? You know, with all the pictures of the sunrises."

Joe laughed as he welcomed the change in the tone of the conversation.

"Oh, that? Well, it's just something I have been working on. It's not really an experiment, it's more like-well, like therapy, I guess."

She looked at him inquisitively. "Therapy?"

Joe smirked as he tried to hide his discomfort. "Well, you see, when I was a boy my mom used to sit out behind our house and watch the sunrise each morning. Most normal people stayed in bed, but not my mom. Every morning she sat out there on her little swing and waited on the sun-She loved it."

He glanced over to her and then shrugged. "She always wanted me to come out there with her, but I never did. I guess I have never really forgiven myself for that. So, while I was gone overseas, I found that thinking about home made me feel safe. I didn't sleep much over there, so I started taking pictures of sunrises whenever I could. Some guys collected dirt from all the places they went, some guys collected trinkets and I collected sunrises."

Joe took a deep breath. "See, my mom always told me no two sunrises were alike, kind of like snowflakes. And I guess I just tried to prove she was right."

He shrugged again. "Anyway, I started taking them during the war and I have kept it up. I don't take pictures of all of them anymore. Some mornings I just sit and enjoy them."

Elizabeth stared at Joe. "Why, Joe Martinson, that is one of the sweetest things I have ever heard." She bit her lip as she studied his face. "I'd love to see one with you," she said.

He glanced over to her, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "What? A sunrise, really?"

She nodded. "Really!"

Joe grinned, "That would be nice."

Elizabeth chuckled. "Same old sweet Joe I knew so long ago. I knew you hadn't changed all that much!"