There was that guy again standing over there to the side. Off in the distance but close enough also. When he saw me looking his way, he walked up to me. It took him about five minutes or so. His shoes barely cleared the sand and his feet made shuffling sounds as he approached. His sandals were made of leather and he was wearing thick woolen socks.

"You know," he started to say and then stopped in the middle of his sentence as if I was supposed to give him a visual que or something so that he could start again. Permission on my part, showing we were equal in more ways than one.

I just smiled (the "visual cue" or something).

"Like I was saying," he continued, "it is periods like this that can be really trying on your relationship. Hopeless or so it seems..."

I had to agree, but how did he know what was on my mind?

"You get to the point where you know that it would not be good to stop, but at the same time it is more and more difficult to keep on going." (Cough). "Running away is a viable option."

Sure made sense. What does he know that I don't?

"You can just hang around, I don't care." He shrugged his shoulders as if it were he that was giving me the permission this time around.

Sounded alright with me. I blinked and then he was gone, back to the spot where I first saw him standing. Then he wandered further until I could not see him any more.

Now that that guy went on his way again, it got me to thinking. "The end of the year is just that: a time just to hang around is all..." was what I was thinking.

So that is what I will be doing, I suppose.