View From A Bridge

I wanted something different as the background to a story and came up with this. All the song titles are real (And worth listening to)


Immediately I could tell she was thinking of jumping, you don’t stand on the outside of the bridge rail to look at the view. I thought it would be a waste if she did, she looked very pretty: A natural redhead with nice long legs.
“You’re not thinking of letting go are you?” I asked. “It’ll make a terrible mess for someone to clear up.”
“What’s it to you?” Her head jerked around, revealing flashing green eyes.
“I’m one of those who has to clean it up.” I shrugged.
“Oh! I’m soooo sorry for the inconvenience.” She snapped back.
“Plus it would be a terrible shame for such a pretty girl to throw away her life.” I smiled to show her I meant it.
“Yeah? Well my boyfriend, my ex-boyfriend, wouldn’t agree with you.”
“Just because he’s an idiot doesn’t mean the rest of us should be denied your beauty.”
She smiled weakly for the first time.
“Do you make a habit of this?”
“What?”
“Charming girls stood on the edge of a bridge.”
“Actually, you’re my first.” I grinned.
“Did you mean that?”
“That you’re the first? Yes.”
“No, that I’m pretty.”
“Of course.”
“It’s not just some ploy?”
“Well, it is a ploy, but that doesn’t make it any less true.” I gently laid my hand on hers. “Come back this side of the rail and tell me your name.”
She hesitated for a moment and looked me in the eyes.
“All right. Seeing as you asked nicely.” She said quietly. As she turned her foot slipped. I quickly grabbed her flailing arm, steadying her. I pulled her towards me and wrapped my arms around her. I could see the sudden fear in her eyes, her green eyes. She realised that she didn’t want to die like this.
“Hi! I’m Dave. And you are?” I said, hoping to calm her down. It worked.
“Sue. Susan.” She said, the terror receding from her face.
“Well Susan, let me help you back onto the safe side of the railing and then you can tell me your problems.” She nodded her assent and with a bit of help, clambered back over the barrier.
Susan leant back against the rail and sank down onto her haunches. She couldn’t look me in the eye.
“I’m so sorry and so ashamed.” She sobbed.
“What on earth is so bad that it could make you think that jumping off a bridge was the answer?” I asked as tenderly as I could.
“It just seemed that no-one cared and that the world would be better off without me.” She was crying now, partly from shock, partly from shame.
“But that’s just silly.” I crouched in front of her and took her hand. “You are enough to brighten anyone’s day.”
“You’re very kind.” She giggled through her tears. “And very smooth.”
“I try to be.” I lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “So lets not have any more talk about jumping shall we?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I promise.”
Then things got a little weird.

The guide in the blue uniform just appeared out of nowhere beside us, a clipboard in his hand.
“Interesting.” He said.
“What the..?” I said in surprise. “Who the hell are you? And where did you come from?” Susan just stared in shock, as if she recognised him.
“I am supposed to be Miss Susan’s guide into her next plane of existence, but you appear to have forestalled that. How?”
“What do you mean ‘How’. All I did was talk her out of jumping.”
“Just by talking eh? Interesting” He ticked something on the clipboard. “Miss Susan, are you still interested in our offer?”
Sue nodded.
“There’s got to be something better than this life.”
“Susan! What are you saying? You’d prefer to be dead?”
“Not particularly, but there has to be something more fulfilling than this.” She looked away shamefacedly.
“She doesn’t have to be dead to accept this proposal.” The uniformed guy said. “In fact, if you’re worried, you can come as well. With your power you could be useful to us.”
“What power? I’m a bin man for heavens sake!”
“But you seem to be a persuasive talker, which is something we need at the moment. Are you interested?”
I looked from one to the other of them. Susan still seemed to be depressed about her life and she was too pretty to just let go. The man with the clipboard didn’t seem to pose any threat, he was just waiting.
“All right.” I sighed. “What do I have to do?”
“If you’ll both just sign here.” He proffered the clipboard. “It’s a one year contact.”
“Won’t people miss us?” I asked.
“No. You’ll still be here. That is, when you have fulfilled your contracts, you’ll be returned to this place and time.”
“And where are we going?”
“A sort of halfway house where people wait while it’s decided whether they reincarnate or carry on to a higher plane of existence. We employ people such as yourselves to help them in their decision; some are waiting themselves, others we bring in on these short term contracts.” He gave Sue a pen. She signed the contract. He turned to me, offering me the clipboard.
“Why not?” I sighed and took the pen. “I want to keep an eye on Susan anyway.”
“And you’ve only just met her.” The guy smiled. “Ready? Then hold my hands.”

We appeared in an apartment room with some nice furnishings. I looked around at it, wondering if I was to stay here or Susan was. Sue was doing the same thing. Finally I spoke.
“Is this to be mine or hers?”
“Actually, you’ll have to share.” The guide looked embarrassed. “We were only expecting Susan.”
“Then it’s hers: find me a cubby-hole or something. We can’t share; I’ve only just met her!”
Sue put her hand on my shoulder.
“Dave, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” She said smiling. “What can happen? Look on it as an adventure.”
“All right, I’ll try.” I said, somewhat mollified. “What is this job then?” I asked, turning to our guide.
“Well, we’re setting up a radio station. We have three DJ’s and two engineer’s, Susan is an engineer too.”
“I only do hospital radio you know.” She said, slightly worried that he may think she was some big-shot.
“Yes, I know. But this will be similar to that.”
“So where do I fit in? Unless you need some rubbish taken away that is.”
“No, we have people for that. I was thinking with your persuasive talking ability you could become a fourth DJ.”
“Won’t you be an engineer short again?”
“I think we can work around it. I suggest you go and meet the others at the station over the road and talk it over with them. You go on air tomorrow.”
With that he turned and left. I looked at Sue, a bemused look upon my face matching the one she was wearing.
“Well, I suppose we’d better go and find the others and see what they say.” I said.
Sue nodded in agreement, but an anxious look came back onto her face. “Why are you worried? At least you’ve an idea about what to expect, I haven’t got a clue!”
“I just don’t want to let anybody down again, and I suspect that you’ll be just fine.”
“And what makes you say that? I’ve never even been inside a radio studio, I could be terrible, or freeze up, or anything.”
Now she laughed.
“You haven’t stopped talking since I met you! You’ll be perfect.”
I laughed too.
“All right, you’ve convinced me. Let’s go and see the others.” I held out my hand and she took it. I led her out of the door to meet our new workmates.

They were a friendly bunch, looking forward to starting a new venture. The three DJ’s were willing to help me with a few hints and tips, the main one being not to think of talking to a lot of people, just to imagine one person and talk to them. The engineers did the same for Sue as she confessed her relative inexperience. There was also a programme controller and a secretary. Kelly the controller was amiable to my proposal that I take the late night shift so that I could see how the others worked. She wasn’t so sure about the suggestion that Sue be my engineer until I explained I had an idea I’d like to try out. The other two engineers, Rick and Adrian, agreed to do six-hour shifts to cover the first three four-hour shows, leaving Sue with just my four-hour stint which fitted in perfectly with my plan. Kelly said she’d be around for my show too, ‘just to keep an eye’ on us. They were all a little curious about my scheme, but I didn’t want to say too much, I wanted it to be a surprise, especially for Sue.
We looked around the studios and the other station offices. I was poking around in one of the cupboards when I found a camp bed that could be used by the station staff. I asked if I could borrow it. Kelly said it shouldn’t be a problem so I picked it up. After spending a while familiarising ourselves with the studio Sue and I returned to our apartment to sort out the sleeping arrangements and a few other things.

“Why the bed?” Sue asked as I put it up in the corner of the main room of the apartment.
“There’s only the one otherwise.” I said.
“We could share it you know.”
“I couldn’t sleep in the same bed as you Susan; I don’t know that I could control myself.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You’re too pretty for one thing.”
She blushed slightly.
“I’d be willing to take the chance.” She replied, almost hopefully.
“Well I wouldn’t. You don’t know me well enough.”
“It would be a chance to learn?”
“No. My mind is made up. I’ll sleep out here.” I stood up after putting the bed together. “The only other thing is that I suggest we both make sure we lock the bathroom door when we’re using it. No chance of bursting in on one another.”
“You seem to have thought of everything.” She said disappointedly.
“Just trying to keep things honest.” I smiled. “At least for a while, until you find out about all my nasty habits.”
“You’re determined to take all the fun out of this aren’t you?”
I nodded.
“At least for a while, until we get to know each other better. We have only just met remember?”
“Am I that repulsive to you?” She looked like she was going to cry.
“Sue, you are practically everything I want in a girl. A pretty, green-eyed redhead with long legs and a sense of humour too, but I have to build up to things. And you may find that I’m not the Good Samaritan you think I am. You might actually dislike me you know.”
“Somehow I doubt that. All right, we’ll do it your way.” She grinned. “At least for now.”

I went into the station a couple of hours after Will had started his ‘Breakfast Bar’ show at seven to watch him at work. He was trailing Sara’s following show as ‘The Main Event’, an interesting name I thought. Her show was followed by ‘Nicky’s Rush Hour’. I couldn’t see that lasting as there seemed to be no such thing here. Kelly suddenly realised that they needed a name for my show, so they could trail it. Sue had arrived by now, so after a quick discussion we came up with ‘Crazy Nights’.
“No name check?” Kelly asked after I told her.
“Maybe tomorrow.”
Kelly looked at me sideways.
“What are you up too?”
“If I tell you, will you keep it quiet until we go on at seven?”
“Of course.” She sighed.
“Sue is going to be my co-presenter.”
“She hasn’t said anything to me.” Kelly was puzzled.
“She doesn’t know yet.” I grinned.

At ten to seven I was sat in the studio waiting for Nicky to hand over to me on the hour, but Sue had only just appeared. I still had to persuade her to engineer the show from where I was sat AND wear a mike and participate in a little banter. Surprisingly, she came straight in and sat opposite me, tugging the headphones and mike on without a word. I looked up and saw Kelly outside; she smiled and waved her fingers.
“Ready?” Sue asked.
Somewhat shocked, I nodded.
“As I’ll ever be. Why are you sat there?”
“That’s what you wanted isn’t it?” She gave me a huge grin. Kelly waved again and I knew I’d been had. Sue began to count down with her fingers and then cued me in as Nicky handed over.
“Good evening, all you mad creatures. Welcome to ‘Crazy Nights’ with me, Dave…”
“…And me, Sue.”
“First up is the greatest song ever, ever, ever. No argument will be accepted. Here is Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’.”
And that was how we started our show. The second song I, or we, played was ‘Freebird’. As it ended I back announced it and then carried on.
“I’d like to play a few of your requests, so if any of you want to get in touch, we’ll see what we can do.”
Nicky broke in from the other studio where he was tidying up.
“I’ve got a request.”
“I’m not swapping knob-twiddlers mate!”
“No, there’s a song I’d like you to play.”
“Well, that’ll be a start. Go on then.”
“Can you play Alice Cooper’s ‘Poison’?”
Sue nodded that she could find it.
“It seems we can Nicky, mainly because you already primed the computer. ‘Poison’, that’s the song that all the pole-dancers use isn’t it? Hey Sue, how about it?”
She reddened either with embarrassment or anger.
“No pole dummy.” She snapped.
“I think that was a ‘NO’ listeners. I may be back after ‘Poison’ by Alice Cooper. If I’m not, Sue has taken action.” I cued in the song. I could see that Sue wasn’t happy. “Don’t take it seriously Sue, it’s just mindless banter to get some atmosphere.”
“Just don’t push it Dave.” She frowned at me.
“Only mild innuendo and risqué flirting I promise.” I crossed my heart.
“See that it is, or I’m going back to the other side of the glass.” Sue grinned at my discomfort. “How do you want me to react? Straight-laced or flirty back?”
“What do you feel would be better?”
“Flirty I think.” She grinned an evil grin.
“It is the night show I suppose.”
“Then you don’t realise what you’ve just unleashed sunshine.”
“Ooo! That sounds promising.” I grinned back at the huge smile Sue was now wearing. “Anyway, I believe it’s your turn to pick a song.”
“Anything I want?”
“Well, no rap, disco or country. But otherwise…” She smiled to herself and began to search the database. ‘Poison’ finished. “What a great song. Pity I missed out on the dancing, but Sue wouldn’t try without a pole.” I smirked at her wickedly. “What’s next then, knob-twiddler of mine?”
“I’ve decided that we need to get everyone involved, so here’s Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’. Everybody clap their hands. You too, button-pusher.”
I smiled. This was going to work! As long as the management and the listeners thought so too. I glanced outside of the studio where Kelly was still watching. She seemed to sense my question and put her thumbs up.
Our first four-hour show was almost over.
“Just time for one more.” I said. Sue nodded that I was right. “Okay then. This one is for my knob-twiddler and partner-in-crime Susan. Bad Company’s ‘Feel Like Making Love’.” I smirked as the tune began. Sue just put on her ‘serene’ face for the duration.
As the song finished she spoke.
“Sorry, I’ve got a headache. Goodnight everybody.” And she switched everything off. We both just collapsed with laughter.
Kelly came in beaming.
“You two have a great rapport. It comes through the speakers and gives the show something different.”
“So you think it’ll work?” I asked.
“I think so. We’ll see what reaction you asking for requests gets shall we?”
“That was okay wasn’t it?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem.” Kelly seemed amused by my late concern. “Though I think I might need to employ someone to deal with it.”
“Sorry.” I said, shamefaced.
“Don’t be; it’s the sort of thing we wanted.” She smiled at me. “Although you might have asked first.”
“Sorry again. It was a spur of the moment thing.”
“Are you okay with everything Sue?” Kelly asked. “The banter wasn’t a bit risqué for you?”
“No, it was fine. With a bit of practice I’ll be better.”
“I dunno Sue, that last put down was pretty good anyway.” I grinned. “If you get too good, I may have to rethink my strategy.” She just laughed.

Kelly was right. Sue and I were popular with the listeners. This led to some changes in the schedule after the first week on air. They brought in an extra engineer enabling Will to do an extra hour starting earlier. There was an hour of requests added in, initially put together by Kelly and then by some other people she wanted to try out. Her ‘reserves’ she called them. This slotted in between Sara and Nicky, who now called his show ‘Twilight Time’. Sue and I got an extra hour as well. The schedule now ran: Will six until eleven. Sara eleven till three. Then the requests until four, when Nicky took over until eight. Finally Sue and I were on until one in the morning. The remaining five hours were filled with random songs from the computer. We were a twenty four hour station now!
It was also decided that the engineers and DJ’s would get one day in every thirty off, to stop them getting jaded. It gave Kelly another chance to try out her ‘reserves’ as well. About ten weeks into this new regime I came in to find a new face presenting ‘Twilight Time’. I was surprised because it was Sue’s night off not Nicky’s. Kelly was replacing Sue for the night as she felt that I needed a female presenter who wasn’t going to be offended by the way I bounced stuff off her.
“What happened to Nicky?” I asked.
“He got ‘green-eye’.” She said simply. “Whatever issues were holding him here, he resolved. When that happens people temporarily get green flecks in their eyes. Hence ‘green-eye’.” She explained to my puzzled look.
“And that’s a good thing, right?”
“It’s the reason most people are placed here.”
“Who’s the new guy?”
“Matt. He was the most promising of the try-outs.”
I nodded and then began to look for the song that I suddenly wanted to start the show with. Kelly cued me in.
“Thanks Matt. Nice show to start off with by the way. This first song is for your predecessor, Nicky, who has gone on to greater things. Led Zeppelin. ‘Celebration Day’.”
Kelly smiled as the song began.
“That was nice.” She said.
“Sorry I forgot to introduce you boss.”
“It’s okay; you can do it in your own smutty style before the next track.”
I smiled back. Kelly was an easy boss to get along with.
Unfortunately the show didn’t have the same spark without Sue. I’d noticed it before. Kelly felt it too. Towards the end of the show she apologised.
“It’s not your fault boss-lady. It’s just that you’re not Susan.”
“So it is my fault.”
“No. It’s me. I feel different with Sue over there. Naughtier I suppose.”
“Then I think in future I’ll give you the same day off. That way we won’t have to try and do the same sort of show with different people.”
“Thanks Kelly. You are the best boss ever.”
“Come on, time for the last song.” She seemed amused by my sincerity. An idea that had been rattling around in my head suddenly became the right thing to do. Kelly cued me again.
“Regular listeners will know that around now I usually play something to try and embarrass Sue. Well I’m not going to go down that road with the boss, so this is for Sue as usual. It’s not something we’d normally play. Hope you’re listening sweetie.” Cliff’s ‘Miss You Nights’ started. Kelly looked at me.
“You love her don’t you?”
“Yes I do.”
“So why are you keeping her at arms length?”
“Because she came here with problems that I don’t want to add too.”
“You might just be the solution you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“I think you know.”
The song played out.
“That was for you, girl of mine. Say goodnight Kelly.”
“Goodnight Kelly.” With a grin she switched over to the computer. “And that was what I meant lover boy. See you tomorrow.” With that she got up and left. I sat on my own for a while, wondering if Sue had been listening. Shaking myself, I stood up. Better go and find out.

I entered our apartment. Although dimmed, the lights were still on.
“Sue? You still up?” I called out.
“In here.” She called from the kitchen. “Coffee?”
“Please.” I replied. “Listen to the show?” I asked tentatively.
“Yes, great news about Nicky.”
“Isn’t it?” I paused. “Kelly and I were talking about the show tonight. Although it wasn’t bad she reckons it would be better if you and me had the same day off in the future.”
“That’ll be nice.” She still hadn’t come out of the kitchen.
“Susan, are you hiding from me in there?” I started to walk towards the open door.
“Well, something happened when you played that last song for me.”
“What?” I was worried now. It had seemed like a good idea at the time.
“This.” She turned to face me as I entered the room, her face glowing and her eyes greener than ever.
“WOW!” Was all I could say.
“I just needed to be wanted apparently. You do want me don’t you?”
“More than I thought possible Sue.”
“Good. Now come to bed.”
“That’s a bit sudden isn’t it?”
“Sudden? I’ve been waiting for weeks for the right moment.” She wrapped her arms around me and kissed me. Our first proper kiss. Suddenly I couldn’t believe that I had been trying to resist this. Still kissing, we stumbled our way to the bedroom.

There was a staff meeting a couple of weeks later, during the requests show. Sue and I had been spending a lot of the time at our apartment just being together. While we were at the station we tried to disguise what we felt for each other, but at the apartment we could give full rein to those feelings. More of the other staff had gone, getting their ‘green-eye’, until only Sara and Kelly of the originals were left, along with the two of us. Kelly was bringing us all up to date with one or two minor organisational details, telling us how the ‘reserves’ were shaping up, and asking if we thought that it was worth replacing the computer with a DJ for the Late, Late Show. She finished the meeting with a question.
“Does anybody know of a spare bed? One of my new reserves has a room, but the bed is broken.”
Sue piped up without thinking.
“You can have Dave’s back. He hasn’t been using it.”
“SUSAN!!” I exclaimed. We both went red and everyone else smirked.
“I’m glad that’s out in the open at last.” Kelly smiled. “Do you know how hard it was for the rest of us not to notice? Tracks like ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ and ‘In These Arms Tonight’ as your last songs of the night were a bit of a giveaway, so was the giggling.”
Sue and I both looked around shamefaced.
“Sorry everyone.” Sue said.
“Yes, sorry. We just thought it best if we kept it quiet.”
“No harm, no foul.” Sara said, a big grin on her face.
“To make it up to all of you we’ll have a party at our place tomorrow, it’s our day off. Everyone’s invited.” Sue gushed. She was happy and wanted to share it with everyone else.
“Good idea.” Kelly said. “I’ll be late though, I have to keep an eye on your replacements.” She shuffled her notes. “Right, that’s it. Meeting over. Buzz off.” She paused. “Dave can I have a word?” She waited until all the others had left. “Dave, there are a couple of things I think you should know. Did the guide explain about what happens when you go back?”
“No, I don’t think he did.”
“The thing is, when you return, you’re not supposed to remember this place.” I stood and looked at her stunned, mouth agape. “It’ll seem like snatches of a dream for you, both of you.”
“Sue as well? She went ‘green-eye’. Will her problems come back?”
“I know about her ‘green-eye’, and no, her problems won’t come back. She’ll be happy, but won’t know why. The thing is, we don’t know exactly what will happen this time. We rarely recruit a pair and they’ve never fallen in love before.”
“Shouldn’t you be telling Sue this as well?”
“I don’t want to risk her having a relapse.”
“So why tell me?”
“Because you deserve the truth as we know it.”
“As we know it?”
“I told you, we don’t know what will happen in your case. Just before you leave, the guide will be back to see you. He may know more by then.”
I sighed.
“Thank you for the truth Kelly.” I set my shoulders. “I’ll make our last few months here happy and hopefully memorable ones. The show won’t suffer.”
“Thank you. I’m really sorry Dave. If we find out anything for certain, I’ll let you know, I promise.”
I left the station feeling down and went for a walk to clear my head. One thing was clear to me: Sue was never going to find out; at least one of us should remain happy and contented. To do this I was going to have to put this knowledge from my mind and carry on as normal. I turned my thoughts to the show. A couple of ideas I’d been toying with were going in tonight I decided. One idea was to play three or four songs from the same artist back-to-back, something I’d heard done on another station at home. The other was that Sue and I would pick two somehow related songs and invite the listeners to pick a third and then play our pair and the most popular choice for the third on the following night. I was confidant that it would work. I checked the time. Better get back I thought.

The two new features did indeed work well, although once again I’d forgotten to warn Kelly of the increased correspondence. For most of the time I was able to keep happy and in truth, I was happy. Being with Sue did that. But towards the end of our contracts I couldn’t help but remember our time together was probably finishing. Sue put this down to the fact of our impending departure. On the morning before our last show the guide visited as promised. He didn’t mention the memory loss to Sue, presumably having been forewarned by Kelly. He just told us to go to sleep as normal, and when we awoke, we would be back on the bridge where he’d found us. As he went to leave I asked if I could speak to him outside, out of Sue’s earshot.
“About the other issue, anything new?”
He sadly shook his head.
“No. I’ve been looking for loopholes, but can find none.”
I sighed.
“That’s going to make me pretty unique then. The only person to leave here sadder than when they arrived.”
“Maybe, maybe not. You are supposed to lose your memories of this place, but love is the strongest force in the universe, so who knows?”
“But YOU are supposed to know. It’s you that runs this place.” I was angry now. Time was short and I wanted proper answers, not wishy-washy maybes.
“You are very perceptive, but I have to obey my own rules. Why else would I have them? The answer to your problem lies within you. I can do no more.” He turned and left. I threw up my hands in exasperation and then calmed down before going back inside.
“What was that about?” Sue asked cheerily.
“Just something I wanted to say to him.” I shrugged, avoiding an outright lie. I put my arms around her. “We’ve got one more show to do. Let’s plan a great finish.”
“You? Plan? That’ll be a first.” She laughed.
“You cheeky mare!”

We were approaching the end of our last show. It had been our best one ever. We’d played Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’, U2’s ‘One’, and Joe Bonamassa’s ‘India/Mountain Time’ again. ‘Kashmir’ had got yet another outing, as had ‘When The Levee Breaks’ and ‘Fear Of The Dark’. ‘Freebird’ had caused a mass outbreak of air guitar once more. All our co-workers had popped in to say their goodbyes and Kelly had watched the whole show for the first time since our initial week. There was just time for a couple more tracks.
“Okay knob-twiddler, this will be your last pick. What’s it going to be?”
“This is for you button-pusher. Me too, I suppose. Remember when you played that soppy Cliff song for me?” I nodded. “Well, this is what it gave me. ‘Moment Of Clarity’ from Roger Waters.” She cued it in.
“This is a nice little piece.” I said to her as the track played.
“I know you like it, and I think it has some meaning for me.”
“Me too.” I smiled at her and reached over to hold her hand for a moment. “I wish we could go on like this forever.”
“Our time here is up.” She shrugged. “Can’t be helped.” The song finished. Sue cued me one last time.
“So, what will be our last song I hear you all ask? Well, I’m not going to break with tradition and not dedicate it to my wonderful girl Susan, but I am going to dedicate it to all of you out there listening as well. Our last track ever is Thin Lizzy’s ‘Still In Love With You’. Goodbye, and don’t forget us.”
“Yes, goodbye. We’ve loved doing this show for you. And thank you for your support.”
“So. Thin Lizzy. ‘Still In Love With You’.”
Kelly came in and hugged us both.
“I’m going to miss you two. You made this project happen. I couldn’t have done it without you. I hope you find what you need back home. I mean it.” The last part was obviously directed to me. I knew she was hoping for a miracle for us, but it was one I couldn’t believe in. We all hugged again, Sue and Kelly on the verge of tears. I took Sue’s hand and led her out into the night.
“Where are we going?” She asked.
“I thought we could have one last walk around together.”
“But it’s dark.”
“So? Please Sue.”
“All right, a short walk won’t hurt.” We wandered around for a while, just holding hands, not talking. I wanted this to go on and on. It was nearly time and I was sure I was going to lose her back in the real world but eventually we turned for our apartment.

Sue and I entered our apartment for the last time, still buzzing from a wonderful last show. We knew that when we awoke we would be back on the bridge where we had met. Sue still didn’t know that our memories of our time here would probably be gone. That was what was supposed to happen; I knew that from talking with the guide. She would retain the piece of mind that she had found here, and some other measure of her feelings. What I would retain the guide didn’t know, so this may be the last night of happiness for me. As we snuggled down in the bed, I kissed Sue for what I thought would be one last time.
“That was nice.” She smiled, yawning. “See you in the morning; back on the bridge I suppose?” And then she rolled over and closed her eyes.
“In the morning.” I whispered without conviction. Sue was soon asleep, I could tell from her breathing as I lay with my arms around her, but I couldn’t or wouldn’t drop off. I didn’t want to fall asleep and wake up not being in love with her. I held on to consciousness for as long as I could, nearly two hours, but I succumbed eventually.

That had been a waste of time, as Susan and I re-entered our world at the same time. She was leaning against the bridge rail on her haunches, and I was crouching in front of her, holding her hand. And then I realised that I could remember those hours trying to stay awake, and the last song we’d played, and the first, and everything else! I looked into her pretty face and lovely green eyes. She was looking at me strangely, her hand moving up to my face.
“Sue! Susan! Can you remember too?” I asked excitedly.
“What?” She answered distractedly.
“Can you remember the year we just spent together?”
“That? Of course I can Dave, its just…your eyes. You’ve got ‘green eye’. How can you have ‘green eye’ here?”
“I have?”
She nodded, reaching into her bag and pulling out a small mirror. She passed it to me and I looked at my eyes. She was right; I did have the same sort of green flecks in my eyes that I had seen so often in those who had found peace or happiness. I suddenly recognized why. The guide had said there was a problem with me, that only Sue and I could solve. I realised that as soon as it was obvious that Sue and I both had our memories of the radio station, that we still had our love, my problem was solved, hence the ‘green eye’. The guide had been wrong and right at the same time. He was wrong when he thought we wouldn’t remember our time in the other place, but he was right that love was a powerful emotion. Mine and Sue’s love had been so strong that it had held all our memories in place, every little thing we loved about each other. Instead of trying to explain to a puzzled Sue, I just held her close, hugging her to me.
“It doesn’t matter, I still have you, so nothing else matters.”
“So what happens next?” Sue said from the depths of my hug. I sat back.
“I suppose we have to find…” I stopped as I saw a letter in Sue’s pocket that hadn’t been there the first time we were on this bridge. “What’s this?” I asked, pulling out the envelope. Strangely, although it had been in Sue’s jacket, it was addressed to both of us. I squatted beside Sue so that we could both read what was inside. It was a contract for a radio show for the local station! As I passed it to Sue to read properly, a note fell out of the envelope. I picked it up. On it was a three word message: For services rendered. It was signed: Your Guide. I turned my eyes skywards and whispered my thanks. I put my arm around my beautiful redhead and kissed her.