Bracelet    She sat alone in the McDonald, looking at the people one by one and wondered what they had been faced in their lives..  The fat middle aged Chinese man was seriously reading the news of the stock market while his wife was busy feeding their 2 sons.  They were too old already to be taken that much care but the scene like this was commonly seen in Bangkok.  There was a white skin, brown hair man sitting alone at the right corner.  He took a big bite on his burger and concentrate on a thick pocket book which have the name of Robert Ludlum, very thick and very large, printed on the cover.  A thin smile was spreading on her lips.  His being must have been completely drawn into the excitement of Ludlum's imagination.  It was normal.    The familiar cool wind blew into the restaurant together with the familiar traffic noise.  Without looking, she knew that someone was getting in.  Someone walked passed her to the queue of customers in front of the counter.  She looked up,  and her heart suddenly stopped..!    that faded jeans..    that gray shirt..    that height..    that hair style..    In her shock she stared hard at his back.. Her heart beat again, very fast, so fast and so loud that she could not hear anything else but the heart beat and the shouting inside..    Leave!  Leave here  immediately..! No, stay!  Stay!   No, leave!,  Leave now! No, stay!    Oh.. run to him.. run to him now..   Her hands, her lips, were trembling with the tornado inside her heart.  He then turned half way toward her for a second and turned back.  Heart brokenly she sighed, a long half relieve, half disappointed sigh..  They were not those eyes, not those powerful eyes to the workers, but always sweet for only her..  Her hands dropped, powerless.  It was not him.  Lucky it was not the man she could see in her mind nights and days, as if his image was edged behind her eyelids.  If it were him, whether she would run away from him, or run to him, or run after him forever, she still did not know.    Tears came slowly to her eyes and ran down her cheeks, down and dropped to her shaking hands that was put together on the table..  With shaking fingers she caressed gently the most delicate neilloed large bracelet on her left wrist.  It was there since he put it on her.. It was there almost all the time for 7 years already.    "When I saw it I knew you would love it."  She could hear his lively voice.  "If you were there to see how  it has been made you would love it thousands time of what you are feeling now."    She had smiled at him from the sweet feeling in her heart.  His face was bright with joy while slowly opening the soft thin white paper wrap and she was breathless with the apparent  of the most beautiful bracelet she had ever seen.  He gently slipped it through her left hand.    She was still wordless looking at it and at his face over and over with great appreciation..    He looked deeply into her eyes, took both of her hands in his large warm hands and gently touched his lips on them and murmured    "My sweet lady, I do everything just to see these eyes.. to see them shine like this.. to see them smile like this.. to see those sparkling love like this.. " she could not help but let the tears ran down to her smiling lips.. "and those tears like this.." he added.   It was neilloed with the fine Thai pattern, they called it Fire Pattern.  Anyone could easily see that it had been done with love, not for any payment.  In the 'Fire' itself there were very tiny scratch which made the bracelet shone even in the very thin light.  She looked at it, breathless, wordless.    "I was choosing something for you in the souvenir shop in Nakorn Srithamraj last month.  They were so many beautiful neilloware that I could not make decision.   Then I heard a sad deep sigh.  I turned and saw an old man.  He shook his head slowly.  I curiously looked at him.  He looked at me, smiled sadly and said 'Time runs fast.  The arts are not able to follow'    I don't have to tell.   You know what in the old man that had attracted me.  We ended up at his house where he kept his personal beloved neilloware he made.  I saw the photograph of him presenting his master piece of art to Her Royal Highness Princess Chulaporn and some photographs of him and his students.  He was the neilloware art teacher.    I felt as if it was a sudden sunrise in my dark night.  His works were very fine.  Each piece was very beautifully done with love.  They were so far beyond compare with those I had seen in the shop.  'Time runs fast.  The arts are not able to follow'  I then understood.  No one has enough time to care for art itself when they need food to fill their children's stomach..   Suddenly I saw a bracelet.  I knew at once that it was there for you, for only you.  Its being was just to be with you.  I took them in my hand and asked him whether he would sell it.  His face changed.  It was a shock, sadness, and slowly turned to thin smile.   'What do you want it for.'   He asked me solemnly.  I told him that I wanted to give it to the sweetest lady I had ever found.. I told him that this was your bracelet.  I told him that it was done specially for you.    He took it from my hand, turn his back to me and was quietly look at it for a long time.  His shoulders were slightly trembling.  Then he turned, said to me slowly but confidently, with the shadow of tears in his eyes.   'I can't sell it to you.  This bracelet belongs to the lady I love the most in my life.  I can't give it to your lady.'  'I understand.' I told him.  ' But could you please make another one exactly like this for the lady I love the most in my life. ' He looked at me, quiet. 'Tell me about your lady.'  He then commanded, dried his eyes and listened.  I told him everything about us.  I told him everything about you.  I told him how I appreciated you for being you..  I showed him your pictures.  He looked at you and was stunned.  I waited  with hope.. Yes, I hoped your pictures could charm him..   He then led me to another closet and showed me the very faded picture of a young lady.  I could not believe my eyes.  She has nothing similar to you but those eyes, that smile.. I could almost feel you in her.   Finally he agreed to make a new one for you.    'I was retired many years ago.' he said,  'I am too old for this job.  For the sake of your love, and my love, I will make it for you.  This bracelet is the only one in the world.  I never made for anyone else.  Yours will be the only copy and will be the last one in my life.'    I visited his house everyday for one full mohth.  He made it very exquisitely, very delicately.  Each curve, each scratch was done very accurately.  He made it with all the memories of his love"    She dried her tears that had stopped and had run down again.  He kissed her hands again. "Listen carefully, my sweet lady."  He then looked at her seriously.  "The man was 44 and had been married before he met her.  She was only 24, young and pure like an angel.  She could not be called a very pretty lady but she was good looking.  It was the beauty inside that shone through her eyes and through her flesh.  It was the soft-hearted kindness in her smile that attracted him.  He loved her so crazily but there was no way he could leave his responsible for his family.  She understood and never made request  which made him loved her much more.. The bracelet was for her 25th birthday.  His wife was angry that he spent a month just to make that girl a birthday gift.  To maintain the peace in his family, she left the village and disappeared from his life   14 years later there was a phone call, told him that someone wanted to meet him at a hospital in town immediately.  The name of that guy was not allowed to be told.  He was surprised and had refused to go.  But then he could not bere the curiosity.  He went to the hospital on the next day.    'I could not recognize her.' He told me.  'She was very thin and pale.  The only thing that indicated that it was her was the bracelet on her wrist.  I cried and called her name repeatedly but she could not hear me any more.  They told me she was murmuring my name until midnight and was unconscious since then.  I told her to open her eyes to see me, to answer my first kiss for her.  I cried and called her name over and over.  The nurse said that she would not make it any more.  Soonest as they unplugged, her heart would stop forever.  They told me that I should let her go in peace.'    He told me with dried eyes, my dear sweet lady.  His life long grief had burned out all his tears and smiles.  The nurse gave him a piece of paper that had his name and telephone number and ...  'The bracelet,  to him.'   He kept it and her with him for more than 20 years."    She remembered she was effected so deeply that she was not able to say anything at all..  It was really too much for a man to bear it for 20 years and could not share it with any one at all.. "This bracelet," he felt it slightly, "was made with all his love for his only lady , and with all my love for my only lady.  It will always shine here without any care if you don't take it off.  If it is left alone unused and ignored for a period of time it will be glum.  Once you ware it, in a few days it will happily shine again.."    he paused, very slight sadness flashed in his eyes and was covered with his normal gay,   "the same as me.." he added.    His shirt had been wet with her tears, the same as the McDonald napkin was wet in her hands that was covering her face.  She sobbed softly, the same as she had sobbed 7 years ago.   But there was no more loving arms putting around her.   She did not need to tell him how much she loved him and how she appreciated the way of love he had for her .  She did not need to tell him how she wished she could go with him, be with him everywhere.  She did not need to tell him why she could not do what both of them wanted the most in their lives.    It was his last present for her, before he disappeared from her life 7 years ago.    He was right.   It needs no care at all.  It has been shining nicely and brightly almost all the time on her wrist for 7 years.  It was the finest, most delicate, Thai neilloed bracelet, the last one being made with love, and for love, that had taken one full month time of tears and memories to make it for her, and to give her tears and memories.   When she looks up again, the man in the faded jeans and gray shirt has already left the restaurant.  She dries her tears but her eyes and her nose are still red.  In a few minutes her husband will come in with her only daughter and her son in law.  He will complain again that she should not have insisted to wait alone in air-con restaurant and got a cold.  And again she will smile and thank him gratefully.. like she has always done for 7 years...