102-year-old Rose was excited to celebrate her birthday with her best friend, Arthur. But when Arthur goes missing from their nursing home, Rose flees the facility with her last savings and travels to a new city to find him. However, the money ran out in the middle of her trip.
The grocery store was bustling with customers when 102-year-old Rose gingerly entered. She didn’t have the time or means to shop for long. So she lifted a random box of assorted candy bars and a bottle of water before approaching the checkout.
“$15, Ma’am!” cashier-cum-store owner Mr. Andrews looked down at Rose.
With a face sagged with worry, Rose reached into the depths of her old floral purse and searched for the change, only to find she was down to her last $5…
Hesitant, Rose told the cashier she would take only the bottle of water and thanked him before leaving the store.
Rose retired to a bench outside the store and sat there. The aroma of freshly baked croissants from the bakery nearby tempted Rose. She was hungry. But she refused to look in the bakery’s direction and just sat there.
Later that snowy evening, Mr. Andrews closed the store and approached the parking lot, only to stop in his tracks at a disturbing sight. Rose was still sitting on the bench, all alone and shivering.
Although Mr. Andrews initially ignored her, assuming she had been waiting for someone, he knew something was wrong when he saw Rose sobbing bitterly. So he approached her.
“Are you okay, Ma’am?” Mr. Andrews asked Rose.
“I saw you’ve been sitting here since afternoon…it’s getting dark and late…are you waiting for someone?”
Rose looked up at Mr. Andrews, her eyes red and puffy from weeping. It got Mr. Andrews more worried.
“Ma’am, do you mind telling me why you’re crying?” he asked compassionately. “Is there something I could do to help you?”
Rose snapped away her tears. “I’ve lived through wars…seen the world change before my eyes. And now, at 102, I’m setting out to find my beloved Arthur…” she began.
“If I could only go back in time and never let them take him two days ago…” Rose continued as Mr. Andrews listened earnestly.
Two days ago…
It was a pleasant Tuesday afternoon. Rose walked into the nursing home with her favorite white tulips and her 102nd birthday cake, her eyes eagerly darting for Arthur, her best friend.
“Arthur! Where are you? I got flowers and the cake…can’t wait to blow out the candle and make a wish!” Rose called out to him.
But 96-year-old Arthur was nowhere to be found, which got Rose worried sick.
Rose’s heart started racing as she looked for her friend everywhere in the garden, the corridor, and even the lawn. But Arthur had gone missing all of a sudden.
Rose then approached the doctor to find out. “Excuse me, doctor,” she asked. “Where is Arthur? Have you seen him around?”
“Oh, dear. Miss Rose…didn’t you know? A family member took Arthur a couple of hours ago while you were at the hospital,” the doctor said sympathetically.
“Took him??” Rose was startled.
“Yes. We know this is upsetting for you. But Arthur is no longer listed as a patient here. He’s gone to live with his family.”
A wave of grief swept Rose. Her best friend was gone. How could they take him when Arthur was all she had?
Where was his family during those long, agonizing years when he battled sickness and solitude, with nobody to hold his hand or whisper kind words other than Rose?
Rose angrily stormed to her room. The scent of lilies Arthur last left in her room lingered in the still air. And beside the vase was an old recorder playing ‘Just the Two of Us,’ their favorite song they listened to every day.
Memories of Arthur and her untold love for him haunted Rose as she sobbed bitterly. As she reached the table for a tissue, she noticed a note in Arthur’s messy handwriting that stopped her tears.
“Dear Rose, I didn’t want to leave you.
But my family is here to take me. And I have to go.
Maybe we’ll meet on the other side. But don’t hold your breath.
Write letters to this address: Maple Avenue, Springfield, VA, 7….”
To Rose’s dismay, Arthur’s tear stains had smudged the last digits of his house number.
“We’ll meet on the other side? What does he mean by this?” Rose pondered as she clutched the note close to her heart.
Somewhere in a corner of her heart, Rose knew she could not just let Arthur go like that.
After a deep thought, she decided to defy the odds and reunite with her best friend. She saw the glowing candles and a matchbox near Virgin Mary’s statue in her room. That’s when an idea struck her.
Rose grabbed the matchbox and stole an iron bucket from the laundry room. The next morning, she set a heap of paper alight in the iron bucket and hurried to the patio.
“This should do it!” Rose exclaimed as the fire alarm went off and chaos erupted in the facility. Everybody frantically ran around, thinking a fire had broken out in the rest home.
While guards and staff were busy evacuating the elderly residents, Rose secretly slipped out of the main gate with her last few dollars and an asthma inhaler.
Rose got to the nearest bus stand as fast as she could and approached the ticket counter. She barely had enough to afford a ticket back to town. But Rose was ready to go to great lengths to meet Arthur.
“Springfield, please!” She bought a ticket and boarded the bus.
Rose was overjoyed as she quietly sat by the window and watched the tranquil town fade past her as the bus rumbled down the street.
Exhaustion had caught up with Rose as she fell asleep on her seat, only to wake with a start several hours later when she heard the driver.
“Ma’am, we’re in Springfield. Aren’t you getting down?” he asked her.
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Rose thanked the driver and stepped down.
“Is this Springfield? Why is this town so quiet?” Rose raised an eyebrow as she checked her bus ticket. Her instincts told her something had gone terribly wrong when she saw Missouri instead of Virginia.
Fear kicking in, Rose approached a bus driver to confirm where exactly she had gotten down. “Excuse me, is this Springfield? Can you please tell me how to get to this address?” she asked.
“Yes, this is Springfield. But the Springfield mentioned on this address is in Virginia, lady!” the driver replied. “Did you get down at the wrong stop or something?”
Rose was so disheartened. She had exhausted her last bit of savings on a ticket to the wrong city.
“Oh no! Is there a way to get to Virginia from here?” she asked the man with a glimmer of desperation in her eyes.
But her hopes were shattered when the driver told her she would have to go to Los Angeles to catch a bus to Virginia.
Rose was overwhelmed with disappointment. “I have only $5 left,” she told the driver. “Could you please help me with a ride to Los Angeles?”
The driver burst into laughter. “We don’t offer free rides, old lady…the only way you’d get a free ride to Los Angeles is in an ambulance!”
The guy and his friend laughed at Rose and left. Meanwhile, his words kept ringing in Rose’s ears.
“An ambulance for a free ride? Well, why not?!” Rose thought
Moments later, Rose clutched onto her chest and fell to the ground, staging a heart attack.
Bystanders flocked around Rose, and someone called 911. Soon, paramedics rushed to the scene and carried Rose on a gurney. While the doctors were taking some critical tests and discussing her condition, Rose looked for a chance to escape.
An hour later, when nobody was around, she quietly slipped out of the hospital and headed to the street as fast as she could.
With no phone in hand and clearly no money, Rose roamed around the unfamiliar streets on a scorching afternoon.
Although she tried to cope, she could not walk anymore and headed straight to the grocery to buy whatever she could for the $5 she had.
“…In short, that’s how I made it to Los Angeles…and your store,” Rose finished with tears as Mr. Andrews’ eyes grew moist. “I have only $1 in my pocket. I don’t have much time left…and I don’t know how I will make it to Springfield and find my Arthur.”
“Give me a minute!” Mr. Andrews interrupted and went into his store, only to return after a few minutes.
“Closed for 2 Days!” Mr. Andrews stuck a chart on the front door of his store next to the “Sorry, We’re Closed” sign.
Rose keenly observed, oblivious to the man’s intentions.
“I have a granny at home. You remind me of her!” Mr. Andrews then approached Rose, smiling. “Here, I brought some biscuits and cake for you. Now let’s go to Springfield and find your Arthur!”
Rose could not believe her eyes as he got into his car and opened the door for her. “You’re taking me to Springfield? To…to find my Arthur?” she cried with joy.
“Yes, get in!” Mr. Andrews smiled and helped her get into his SUV.
With each passing mile, Rose was excited at the very thought of seeing Arthur again.
“So…are you finally going to tell him you love him?” Mr. Andrews broke the silence.
Rose nodded, an immaculate smile glowing on her face.
After what felt like an eternity on wheels, they arrived in Virginia. The picturesque landscapes and lush green forests mesmerized Rose as she gingerly stepped down.
“This is the kind of place my Arthur would live in,” she told Mr. Andrews. “I know he’s somewhere near me…I can feel his presence…”
“We’re on the same street where your Arthur lives!” Mr. Andrews exclaimed upon seeing the address on the note Rose showed him. “But there are hundreds of houses here. How do we find the one Arthur lives in?”
“I have an idea!” Rose chirped. “Can you play the song, ‘Just the Two of Us’ loudly on your car stereo?”
“Alright! Let’s do it!” Mr. Andrews tearfully replied, dumbfounded by this older woman’s love and craziness for her beloved.
Mr. Andrews played the song on his car stereo as they drove across the streets. Rose looked out the window on either side, hoping to see Arthur somewhere on the way.
“Did you hear that?” Mr. Andrews shouted excitedly as he slowed down and pulled up outside a house.
“Yes! Yes, I did!” Rose cried.
She got down from the car and turned around. There was Arthur! He ran to her like a little boy, crying out just one name — Rose!
A week later, Arthur slipped the wedding ring on Rose’s finger and kissed her at their beach wedding. Mr. Andrews was the bridesman, and he was delighted to walk Rose down the aisle.
Newlyweds Rose and Arthur knew they probably had very little time to live. But they promised they would love each other more and more until their last breath!
