Just like every other day, Mathilda went to the park and sat on her favorite bench. She was nearly eighty years old, but walked down to the park everyday to feed the birds. They called her the bird-lady but this was home to her. She bothered no one, just fed the birds and listened to the leaves whispering in the trees. It was her happy place. She had no one else and feeding the birds was the only pleasure she had.
Mathilda met her husband Paul in this park and they sat here on the bench and ate their first ice-cream together. Paul loved ice-cream and it became a tradition for them to come sit here on a Sunday after lunch and eat their dessert.
It's been many years since they started coming here. When her husband went away to war, she still came here every single day to feed the birds. When they found out that they couldn't have children, she came to sit here and cried her heart out. When Paul passed away, she came to sit here on the bench and cried for hours.
If this bench could talk it would tell her whole life story.
Today she sat a little longer than usual. She felt chilly and there was a little drizzle. She sighed and was about to get up when she heard a voice behind her in the wind. The voice sounded so familiar and when she turned she saw Paul standing there. He smiled at her.
She smiled back and he held out his hand to her.
"You came back."
"I knew exactly where to find you. Come, it's time for us to go home together."
The next morning the caretaker found her body on the bench. She still had a smile on her face and she still had a handful of grain in her hand. He knew her well, and he knew that she was now at peace. He was going to miss her.
The End