55 Years Ago, My High Scho0l Friends and I Made a Promise to Meet Again at Our Lake. I Never Expected What I Found Waiting for Me…

Nobody was sitting there.

I’d prepared myself for that possibility. Three old friends scattered across three countries had plenty of reasons not to remember a promise we’d made at 17.

What I hadn’t prepared for were the three boxes waiting on the bench.

Each one had my name on it.

“HELEN.”

I looked through the first box’s clear lid.

Inside was something I hadn’t seen since the summer of 1970.