3301. A sad romance © Bruce Goodman 18 August 2025

Great Aunt Ava was a spinster. Her niece, Lucia, was her particular favourite. Lucia was now a teenager and asked Great Aunt Ava far too many questions. How come she had never married? Had she ever fallen in love? Do you regret not having children? Great Aunt Ava’s answer to all of these wasn’t a “No!” but a “Mind-your-own-business-my-dear.” Great Aunt Ava was very free about chatting about everyone else in the past but usually not a word about herself. Strange things can happen. Great Aunt Ava died on the same day that the old – very old – oak tree on her back lawn blew down. That tree and house had been in the family for generations. Great Aunt Ava herself had been reared in that house. The tree was chopped up and thrown into the woodshed for firewood. During the following winter Lucia was about to put another log in the fire when she noticed something. There, carved into the tree trunk was a heart and inside it said Tom loves Ava. It was research time for Lucia! As far as Lucia could ascertain Ava was the only one called Ava in their small town. There were three Toms. Two Toms had married and left town years ago. The third never came back from the war. So that was it, concluded Lucia. Poor Great Aunt Ava. A war widow without being even a widow. It was so sad. Does anyone remember him? Lucia felt a great melancholy for Great Aunt Ava’s secret tragedy. Lucia lived with her solved jigsaw puzzle for years. The pieces seemed to fit together but in fact she had got it all wrong. Contact Author Back to Index Next Story Previous Story