True love is never lost

A new short story. Takes about 9 minutes to read.

The elderly man walked into the pub and made his way to the bar. In the spacious room, three regulars sat at a table while they chatted. The man who was called William saw the landlady behind the bar on her mobile phone. Her husband was nowhere to be seen, so he'd have to wait for his pint. Today was the same as every other day, spending most of it sat at home on his own. Since his wife had passed away life didn't seem the same. Often William felt lonely without Maggie being there. The pub he now stood in was his local. It was the only time he saw other people. Lately, his hearing wasn't as good. William had tried hearing aids, but couldn't get on with them. Which didn't help when someone wanted to chat with him. Being 83 wasn't what he'd imagined. His family visited once in a blue moon. The people he grew up with were dead or he'd lost contact with them years before. If it wasn't for this place William would go mad.

The landlady named Hannah placed the phone into her trouser pocket, still on a high from talking to her daughter who lived miles away. Since the pandemic had started, especially in lockdown she hadn't seen Emma at all. Now the restrictions were slowly relaxing, they were making plans to meet.

Hannah had opened for the first time today, as she didn't want the weekend crowds in. In her phone list were some customers telephone numbers that had popped in earlier. With the guidelines it was now the rules to take their details in case the dreaded virus paid them a visit. She proceeded to the till to see how much loose change was in there, when a familiar voice said.

"If you aren't too busy, I would love a pint, dear lady. And if you would love to hear a joke, I'm your man."

Hannah looked to where the voice had come from and saw William stood there with a smirk on his face. "Sorry, Bill. I was chatting with my daughter, who I haven't seen since this thing started. What would you like?" she asked politely.

"The same as usual," he replied.

What a surprise, she thought.

Once she'd served him his pint, the old man paid her the money. "Thank you, Bill. By the way, how are you?"

William didn't have much to tell her apart from one of his many jokes, which he'd got from a book at home.

Hannah laughed once the punchline had been delivered. "Nice one, Bill," she said.

William seemed happy with her response. It was nice to be appreciated. "Would you like to hear another one?" he asked, hoping she would.

"Fire away," she replied.

And so he did.

That evening, apart from the three which sat at the table, no one else came in. William could tell the landlady was worried about this. The thing was, the pubs closing for 3 months hadn't helped at all. Especially in the height of Summer when the place should be packed. On the plus side, William had told her as many jokes as he could remember, and the best thing was she'd laughed at all of them.

By 10pm it was time to head home like he did every evening.

"See you tomorrow," William said, as he walked to the entrance.

Hannah looked up from her phone, then answered cheerfully, "Yes, Bill. See you tomorrow. Have a safe trip. That's a point could I have your telephone number just in case I need to get in touch. It's the rules I'm afraid."

He smiled, then replied, "An attractive woman wants my telephone number, things are looking up."

William wrote the number down in a book, then left the building.

At the back of the pub was his mobility scooter. These days he found it difficult to walk long distances. William sat on it and turned the key. Then he made his way out of the small car park to the pathway in front of the premises. He lived on the other side of the village, by foot it would take him 25 minutes. His new wheels were a Godsend. Because the path was a little uneven William drove down the hill cautiously. At the bottom was the chip shop. A man in his thirties was locking the front entrance as the place closed.

Every night after leaving the pub William always fancied half a portion of chips, but was always too late. One day he'd have to pop down a tad earlier.

At the end of the pathway was a road he needed to cross. Thankfully, this time of night there wasn't any traffic. The old man drove across it until he met another path, which was wider and easier to travel down. The worst part of the journey was over with, from now on it was plain sailing.

Fifteen minutes later William made his way up the close where he lived. Most of the windows were dark, as people got ready for bed.

Once the scooter was parked in the garage, he locked it and with difficulty proceeded to the bungalow. His legs pained him. In the hallway, the old man took his shoes off and placed them near the door. On the wall was a photograph of his darling wife.

"I miss you, my love,