CHAPTER FORTY-SIX — THE MOVIE WE NEVER KNEW WE WERE MAKING

Twenty years had passed since David and Marilyn had first met.

Their daughter, Hope, was now a successful young woman with dreams of her own.

One Saturday afternoon, Hope came home carrying an old box.

“Dad, Mum, I found this in the attic.”

David looked at the box.

He immediately recognized it.

Inside were old photographs, letters, school notebooks and a small flash drive.

Marilyn smiled.

“That's our past.”

Hope laughed.

“Then I want to see it.”

They connected the flash drive to the television.

The screen came alive.

There was David as a teenager.

He looked nervous.

Then Marilyn appeared.

She was sitting in the last row of their old classroom.

Hope burst out laughing.

“Dad! You looked so young!”

David covered his face.

“Please turn that off.”

“No!”

Marilyn was laughing too.

The video continued.

There were recordings of school competitions.

Graduation.

Their wedding.

Their first home.

Hope as a baby.

Hope taking her first steps.

Every moment passed across the screen.

Then something unexpected appeared.

A recording David had completely forgotten about.

It showed him as a teenager, sitting beneath the old school tree.

He was speaking directly into the camera.

“If you're watching this someday,” young David said, “I don't know where life will take me. Maybe I'll become an engineer. Maybe Marilyn will become a journalist. Maybe we'll stay together. Maybe we won't.”

Marilyn became silent.

Young David continued:

“But if we don't stay together, I hope we remember that for a while, we had something beautiful.”

The screen went dark.

Nobody spoke.

Hope looked at her parents.

“You really didn't know how the story would end.”

David smiled.

“No.”

Marilyn took his hand.

“That's the best part.”

Hope looked confused.

“How?”

David looked at the television.

“Because if we'd known everything that was coming, we might not have enjoyed the scenes we were living.”

Hope smiled.

She picked up the old camera.

“Then maybe I should record this.”

David laughed.

“Why?”

“So future generations can watch it.”

Marilyn looked at David.

“What would you call it?”

David thought for a moment.

Then he smiled.

“Our Movie.”