“Oh, my  dear, I am so glad to see you.  When you called me yesterday and said  that you would come to my place   I got  so  happy. I remembered our student years immediately.  Make yourself at home, please.  How long are you staying here?
You look amazingly perfect, your body’s slim , no wrinkles on your face. Will you tell me your secret?
I am not that perfect like you. I assume you are on one of  those different diets and a frequent visitor to fitness clubs,   and  special centers like that . It seems that you are not  more than thirty. When I say how old I am people might be thinking “We thought you are sixty rather than fifty.
Coffee  or tea , Martha?”
“Tea first and then coffee. Will you let me say a word at last?”
“Of course my dear. I am just really glad to see you. We haven’t seen each other for ages. I decided to  devote  my life to my family  and to give up my job. And you?
“I have a job. I don’t practice  medicine,I am  immersed in   science. I am currently  working on creating  new  anti-cancer drugs. I have come here to attend a symposium. I am going to spend  two to three weeks here. I am single. I used to date  one man  and we were going to get married, but he turned out to be a scoundrel.  I was suffering so much  that I even gave up my practice.  I don’t have a private life.  What private life can I even think about at the age of fifty? I am spending all days at the institute.  So what about you?”
‘Well, I am married. My  husband is six years older that me. He is a  banker. He is at home quite seldom.  I have a son. He is thirty years old and married. My daughter passed away from  leukaemia when she was seventeen.    My family means a great deal to me. I think I would never be able to live alone . 
You  look   really stunning, Martha. Who will think that we are  peers.”
“You  have bombarded me with compliments, Lora.  Oh, who is this?”
Lora’s grandchild   a three year old boy came rushing into the room.
“Martin, say hello to Lora. Look  what a beautiful  lady she is.
This is Nick’s son. He has only one child yet. Martin  has been staying  here at my place for  a few days. Nick is going to take him home today.”
A young  man appeared in the door-way.

“Let  me introduce my son Nick to you.  This is my  classmate, Martha.”
Pleased, to meet you, ma’am. You are  my mom’s roommate?
I would never think so. You  look so young.”
“Thank you sonny and I look so old.”’
Of course not. I didn’t want to hurt you. I wish I looked like Martha  in your age.”
“I think  it is better when one’s looks goes with  one’s age” said Martha.
Martha   spent a few hours  with Lora. They were talking about their student years all the time. Lora was telling her about her children, about her daughter’s disease and about her husband’s  success too.
“You are so happy Lora. I wish I had my own family to tell  you about it  like you tell me about yours.”
“Martha , why don’t you  come  to my place every day while you are here. Who knows when we will meet each other again, after   another ten years?!”
“Thank you, Lora I will come. I  must be going now.  Our symposium   begins in the morning tomorrow.”
“We have to leave  too. May I give you a lift, Martha?”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to bother you.”
“It’s  nothing Martha. Nick will be only glad to do you a favor. Why did you  decide to stay at a hotel,you could stay here with me.”
“Thank you , Lora but I got used to living alone with  my own habits. By the way  I love  silence.”
“I will be waiting for you tomorrow.”
“All right, I will call you,  Lora. Thanks.”
Nick took her to the  hotel   she was staying at.  He was trying to  keep up the conversation all the time, but Marta was  rather  taciturn  in her manner.
“Here it is. Thank you.”
“What room are you staying in?”
“I am staying in the room number 403. Why?”
“Just out of curiosity. Sorry . Seven is a lucky number.”
“Thank you. Good bye.”
“Good bye.”
He was looking at her until she entered the hotel. He was struck by her beauty and looks.

He still couldn’t believe that  Martha was the same age as  his mother. Next day Lora called Martha to invite her  to have supper together. Martha  accepted the invitation , thanked her and said that she would come without a doubt. 
Martha was  just about to call Lora. Having taken a bath she decided to drink a cup of coffee first,  and then   get dressed. She heard a knock at her door suddenly. She was rather surprised as she was not expecting anyone. She opened the door and saw Nick.
“Nick,  is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me. I decided to call on you, to take you  to my mother’s place. She is waiting for you.”
He was not able to take his eyes off  Martha.  After a steaming bath  in her  short bathrobe 
She looked  really  tempting. Nick was not able to control himself. He approached her and drew her closer and started to kiss  her. At first, she objected,  but thenshe started  kissing and embracing  him back.
They  stayed indoors. Lora called her several times, but Martha didn’t  answer the phone call. Nick left the next morning. They  agreed to meet each other. Martha was shocked by what she did. What a shame it was. What if Lora learns about it? “I don’t give a damn what  she might think about it,” she suddenly thought.
She likes  him and he likes her. And she doesn’t care about anything else.“I should call on Lora at least once,  but only when I make sure that Nick will not be there.”
The symposium lasted for two weeks, but Martha decided to stay  for  one  more week as  she didn’t want to part with Nick. She would  call on  Lora,  and then come back home with Nick who usually stayed at her place till morning. Lora never would have guessed that they were lovers, as for his wife, she was used  to her husband’s   frequent absence. He was a doctor so he had to stay at the clinic quite often.
The third week passed and Martha began  preparing for the departure. Lora with tears in her eyes asked her to  come here again  without fail when an opportunity presents itself.  Nick wrote her phone number and address and  told her that he would be sure to come to her place.
Martha was pleased with her visit to their town, she didn’t want to leave at all, but she knew that staying longer could become dangerous. Nick would call her every day, sometimes  even several times a day.  He was sorry that he hadn’t known her before. He managed to come to her place eventually only after  six months.  Nick found  her house   without any difficulty. His heart sank at the thought that  they would see each other again.  As a matter of fact, she hasn’t replied to his phone calls  nor  ever  called him lately. He couldn’t understand why,  but as he was already there he thought that he would find out  it soon.
An old woman opened the door.
“Hello, my name is Nick I am Martha’s friend. Can I talk to her?”
“Hello, but she is  not at home.”
“But where is she? Are you  her mother ma’am?”
She hesitated before  answering.
“Yes, I am Martha’s  mother. She got married and left  with her husband.”
“Got married? When?   Where  is she living now?  Though, what does it matter now! I see  why she didn’t call  and reply  to my phone calls. I am sorry ma’am. Good bye.”
He turned  his back on the woman, but after a few steps he turned  and told her;
“Please, tell her when she calls you that I love her and that I will never forget her.”
And he left. Nick  didn’t look again  at the  woman  who  was  standing crying   in the door-way  following him with her eyes.
After a few days Martha was taken into the hospice. She knew  that she was dying and since  she had so little  time left,  she decided to write a letter to Nick. In her letter she said  that she had been  seriously ill for a very long time and that she is in the last stage of cancer. The distinctive feature of the  disease lies in the fact that it has so-called  rejuvenating  effects. A woman starts to look  younger before people’s very eyes, but after such an effect  one has  very little time left just a  year and a half or even one year which  is  the maximum  time. Now her time is coming to an end. She is in hospice at the moment and by the time he receives her letter  she will have already  passed away. She is very  grateful to him for the happy memories     they  shared  together and  she loves him very much. That old woman  who talked to him  in the doorway  was  Martha. The rejuvenating quality had passed  and she  began to age quickly  and  her strength  started to fail. This is why she didn’t call him nor reply to his phone calls. She handed  a nurse her letter and asked her to send it to Nick. In a few days she passed away.
A mail carrier brought the letter to Nick’s place, but he was not at home. His wife  put it on the table. She thought that it was just the usual letter from a grateful  patient.  
“It’s time for dinner go wash your hands, Martin. What are you doing?”
“I am playing with a paper plane mom, look  it crashed , it  flew into the mantel.”
“Have you washed your hands  the dinner is getting cold?
“Where is the letter for daddy, Martin?  Have you seen it? I put it on the table.”
“I told you mom, the plane crashed  and it burnt in the mantel.”