A Heart to Remember

"Grandma, can you tell us about Grandpa Luke now? Pleeeease?"

Josephine looked out upon her late husband's fields from the top-floor window of the cottage they once shared. Instantly, she was transported back to a time when those same fields were the glue of their survival. The fields were once lush and vibrant. Now, however, the fields were dying. And so was Josephine.

Luke, Josephine thought. She knew the name was connected to her because it brought back a warm, but heartbreaking sense of nostalgia.

"Luke?" Josephine croaked out with her soft voice. She turned around and faced her grandkids.

They smiled at her; she instinctively smiled back. How could she forget these faces?

"Of course, Benny. I think it's time now. Maggie, Susan, can you bring grandma a chair? These bones don't work like they used to."

The grandkids were confused.

The one named Susan giggled, "Graaandma! My name's not Susan! It's Lisa!"

Josephine's eyes widened in disbelief. Did she really just forget her granddaughter's name? No, she was sure it was Susan. Maybe not? She laughed to play it off.

"Of course! Just testing you!" she exclaimed.

Maggie and Lisa grabbed a wooden chair that they didn't know their grandfather hand-crafted. After placing it next to Josephine, they each grabbed one of her wrinkled hands and helped her sit. The kids sat on the floor, eager to hear the story about Grandpa Luke.

"Ready?" Josephine asked.

"Yeah!" the kids shouted.

"Okay, then. The year was 2064. The world still felt the effects of World War III. Due to all the nukes used in the fighting, most of the Earth's oceans became too toxic for any use. All the life in the ocean died. In fact, if it weren't for the National Geographic magazines that your grandfather insisted on keeping, I'm sure I would've forgotten what a whale even looks like!"

"Grandma, what's a whale?" asked Benny.

"Exactly!" Josephine replied. "And so, in order to create more time for scientists to fix the water, every country was forced to ration clean water. We were allowed two liters a week. It was a very difficult time. Eventually, we got through it. The humans did at least. Animals weren't so lucky."

Josephine could see that her grandkids looked afraid.

"You know what? I'll trim some fat off. Since we couldn't eat meat anymore, the agricultural industry focused on making vegetables, and they couldn't hire new farmers fast enough. Eventually, the government offered tax credit incentives to anyone willing to create a farm. The only catch was that your future kids would be forced to become farmers as well. Your grandpa and I didn't have much money, so he took the deal, but he wasn't happy about it. Still with me?"

Josephine paused in order to gauge her grandchildren's attention.

"Well," started Lisa, "we don't know what taxes are, and you're using a lot of big words...but you're talking about Grandpa now, so I'm excited! Keeping going, grandma!"

Josephine laughed. "Very well. Your grandfather and I started growing wheat on this land all by ourselves. He was amazing at it, and life was good again. But then...Grandpa Luke got hurt.

One night, while tending to our well, he heard an awful noise getting closer and closer. He hurried over to his garden shed and grabbed his shotgun. He returned to the fields and waited. The sky was pitch black, and the moon barely gave light. The noise got closer, and closer. In every direction, Grandpa could hear something rustling in the fields. Suddenly, a low pitched growl could be heard. Grandpa pointed his shotgun towards the noise, his finger on the trigger. After a few seconds, the night once again fell into an eerie silence. His guard went down and looked around. In an instant, three wolves lunged at him and pinned him to the ground! One wolf went after his right arm. The other two devils started on each of his legs.

His screams woke me up. I rushed out of bed and ran outside to help him. I grabbed his shotgun and blasted the air above me! The crack of the shotgun shell scared off the wolves, but by the time I had saved your Grandpa, it was too late. He was down on the floor, laying in a pool of skin and blood.

Immediately, I drove him to hospital. Luckily, the doctors were able to stop the bleeding but his wounds were too severe; they had to amputate his arm and both legs. He came to and had a conversation with the doctors about how to proceed.

'We've been working on a new project, Mr. Callister. It's still a bit of a prototype, but it'll restore your normal bodily functions,' one doctor said.

'Yeah? What is it?' your grandfather asked suspiciously.

The doctors suggested that they replace his amputated limbs with cybernetic replacements. He could be a middle aged man with the power of a lion. Wanting to return to some sort of normalcy for me, our kids, and the farm, he accepted. And it was true, those things sure did make him like new, but it seemed like that spark in his soul disappeared. He didn't seem like himself. Eventually we understood why...

'A malignant primary cardiac tumor.' That's what the doctors called it. It had been caused by some sort of metal poisoning from the robotic limbs. Still, there was a solution. In the years between developing metal limbs and that hospital visit, researches found a way to replace entire human hearts. It looked like a smaller version of a heart, it beat like a heart, and worked just like a heart. Grandpa Luke rejected it.

'You people wanna turn me into some sort of tin man?! You think this is better than dying?' Grandpa Luke was furious.

The next morning, an official from the Department of Agriculture called to convince him to get the transplant.

'Think about it, Luke. You'll be healthy again! You can continue to live the life you enjoy with your wife and kids. No more hospital bills, no more chemotherapy...'

The official nearly convinced him until he said something that rubbed your grandpa the wrong way.

'...and it'll allow you to keep working on the farm!' continued the official.

'Oh, so that's what this is about, ain't it? You don't give a damn about my family! You just want your crop and your big fancy quotas met! You can take this tin heart and shove it up your-'

You know what? Sorry, babies. Grandpa used to say some colorful words.

The night Grandpa was supposed to be discharged from the hospital, he drove himself home and told me what had happened. Despite my being happy to see him, we both knew what his rejection of the transplant meant. The cancer was going to take him. We enjoyed many more years together.

The day he died...he held my hand. He sat in this very chair. He made it himself, you know! He was always so crafty... Even as he was passing, he kept that fire about him.

'Damn those doctors. They didn't know what they were talking about anyway! It's better this way...right Josephine?' He turned to look at me. For the first time in my life, I saw fear and doubt in his eyes. He needed me. He needed me to tell him that it was all going to be okay. I smiled at him.

'This is exactly what God intended' I said as my eyes welled up with tears.

'Josephine, I never told you this, but...I stole the heart.'

'What!? Why would you do something like that?'

'I just didn't like the idea of anyone getting that thing put into them. I don't know, maybe it was selfish. But listen, I did something with it, and I want you to have it.'

Out from his pocket, Grandpa handed me a beautiful silver locket that he created.

'I know it's bad. But I wanted to make something good out of it and give it to the person that stole my heart. My real heart. I want you to have it, Josephine.'

I didn't know what to say. I gave him a strong hug and didn't feel like letting go.

He whispered softly now. He was tired and I could tell.

'I wrote a letter in there for you. When the time is right, I want you to read it. Promise me?'

I hugged him tighter. 'I will, honey. I will...I'm gonna miss you, Luke.'

I could feel Luke's tears fall on my head. 'I'm gonna miss you too, Josephine."

Josephine's face was wet with tears. She couldn't remember when she started crying. She got up and placed a blanket on top of her now asleep audience.

Josephine made her way to her bedroom. She grabbed a portrait of Luke off her nightstand and kept it close to her and she laid down.

"Goodnight, honey. See you tomorrow," Josephine said softly. One hand held the portrait, and the other grasped onto the silver locket that she had been gifted.

The next morning, Josephine's eyelids slowly lifted up. She slowly let go of the locket and took a second to look at the portrait. She didn't have too many thoughts about it.

"What a lovely photo," Josephine said.

She left her room and saw three children sleeping in the study.

Maggie, Benny, and Susan, she thought to herself. Maggie, Benny, and Susan.

While reading yesterday's newspaper, she couldn't help but feel like she was supposed to do something. She spent a few minutes pondering what it could all mean. She felt the heart-shaped silver locket that she had been wearing for years rub against her skin. That was it! There was a letter in the locket and she was supposed to read it!

Josephine took the necklace off and placed it on the table in front of her. There was a small groove on the locket that allowed her to open it up. Sure enough, a piece of paper fell out. The print was small and somewhat hard to read. Putting her glasses on, she read:

To my heaven on Earth, Josephine,

So now you've decided the time is right. I'm aware that you could be reading this days, weeks, or years after my death. I love you, Josie, and I need to tell you something. I apologize for not telling you sooner. When we met, your mind was deteriorating, honey. We met at a job fair, and you took one look at me and that was that. I was your husband. That's what you called me and that's what you told everyone else. I didn't have the heart to burst your bubble, so I played along. Eventually, I really did fall in love with you, and that title gave me more and more meaning every day that you allowed me to have it. Truth is though, we were never officially married. You told yourself that the kids I had from my previous marriage were ours. All those years and all those mix-ups...and I was the only constant thing you remembered. You knew that I was Luke, that we were in love, and that we were married. And eventually, that was all true! So if any of this makes you sad, please don't let it! My love for you is as strong and everlasting as the heart that I put this letter inside of. I love you, Josephine. I'll see you again.

Your Luke

Josephine had a stream of tears run down her face. She smiled and gave a sigh of relief.

"What a beautiful letter...I hope this Josephine lady gets the letter! Luke sounds like a lovely man. Oh well," she said to herself. She got up, threw the letter in the trash, and once again put on the necklace.

She walked halfway up the stairs.

"Maggie! Benny! Susan! Wake up!" she shouted. "Your Grandpa Steven is coming home from the hospital today!"