There was that one time when Adventure asked her out, but with Adventure came risk.  So she chose Later.  Then there was that other time when Change gave her his phone number, but with Change also came uncertainty.  So she went back to Later.  Then several times over, Life-Worth-Living asked her out, called her up, pursued her, wooed her, and promised many good and wonderful things to her.  But with Life-Worth-Living came his own baggage of hard work, discipline, determination, grit, and perseverance, and so she once again and ultimately chose Later.

With that, she awoke suddenly.  All alone.  And lonely.

Outside, the air oozed with an uncomfortable warmth and stillness.  Clouds appeared.  Winds increased.  Lightning flashed across the sky.  One, two, three, four seconds later, an angry boom of thunder followed.  Inside and in the bottom-floor bedroom with the cotton-candy blue paint peeling off the walls, the old woman wiggled her crooked fingers.  The wrinkles in her forehead deepened as she winced in pain from the arthritis.  She certainly was not the sprightly twenty-something year old she used to be.  And as her stiff and toil worn body began to get some blood circulating throughout, she moved lethargically to the edge of the bed.  Slipping into a daze with her milky eyes wide open, she wondered, as she so often did, wherever did Later go?–the lover she chose but the lover who never chose her back.