That Summer, You Came and Went

When they were eight, at an amusement park, he tied a blue woven cord around her wrist and said, "Give it back to me next time." She waited six years, and then he transferred into her class. He loved her for seven years without ever saying so. She loved him for seven years, too, and never said a word.

They arranged to meet in the summer and go to Cui Lake. She died three days before summer arrived. That day was his birthday. By the time he got there, it was her birthday.

This is a story about being "just a little too late." They were never truly together, but he feels as if he has already spent a whole lifetime with her.

Theme: Some "next times" in this world never come, but remembering is itself a way of being together without end