So many summers had passed and so many friends were gone. New adventures had unfolded, new friends had been made and so many had been forgotten. The days of Elwood’s youth seemed so long ago, but he would not let a precious memory from those days age. There had been times when he had pushed past tender memories in order to live freely and joyously. He rarely spoke of the early days because he found that there was something about them that should be left unsaid. Retelling those events through meek chains of syllables did not seem to do it justice.

Nearly fifty now and raising a son, Elwood had started to think back on those days more often. Buster was getting closer and closer to the rambunctious age that Elwood was when trouble became synonymous with his face. Elwood was a concerned parent that did not want his child to make the same mistakes that he had. Of course, Buster would never speak of Elwood as his father, but that was an unspoken part of their relationship. With the approach of adulthood, Buster would certainly begin to see Elwood in a different light.

As Buster had become interested in the fairer sex, he’d asked Elwood to tell him of his conquests. Elwood was open about his prior relationships, but would always end his stories with: “—but she wasn’t as great as Annie.”

Buster had attempted many times to get Elwood to open up about this mysterious lady, but was constantly faced with failure. There were phases throughout Buster’s adolescents when he became deeply curious about Elwood’s long lost sweet heart. The idea of a woman walking around the streets of Chicago, blissfully unaware of where his father was intrigued him. Did she feel the same way as Elwood? If she could, would she come back to him? Buster had used this fascination to pick up chicks on occasion. They found it to be ‘adorable’ and that it proved Buster could ‘commit’ to something.

A day came, in the fall, when Buster was almost finished with school and he was in Elwood’s apartment alone, waiting for his father to come home. Buster was gorging himself with potato chips and watching television. He was rather flustered when someone rapped on the door. At first, Buster chose to ignore it. However, the caller was persistent and knocked continuously for nearly ten minutes. Driven mad by the racket Buster answered the door. He swung it open angrily and groaned:

“Jeeez, what do you want?!”

Bust was taken aback to see a middle aged woman, with long brown curly hair and bright blue eyes staring at him. She looked puzzled and a spider web of wrinkles spread across her forehead from her furrowed brow. She clutched a single black leather brief case in her left hand. Buster made an number of assumptions, but none of them would prove to be correct.

“I’m sorry,” She said softly. “I must be at the wrong place.”

Buster chuckled. “How do you know lady? I mean, whaddya want?”

She glanced down at her brief case and smiled. Wrinkles that had been invisible now appeared around the edge of her lips and eyes.

“The phonebook said that Elwood Blues lives here…is that true?” She asked hopefully.

Buster’s jaw dropped. He was staring at one of the most tantalizing mysteries of his life.

“Holy crap..uh..come in! Come in!” Buster insisted, shoving her into the room. Buster slammed the door behind her.

He was adamant that she sit down and relax. The woman gave him odd looks as Buster rushed around the matchbox kitchen mixing together some muddy water. Buster would glance at her now and again, muttering a ‘wow’ under his breath. Buster set down the lemony concoction before his guest and took a seat next to her. His mind swirled with questions but, he was afraid to ask them. He’d never expected to this woman, THE WOMAN, sitting here before him.

“Uh..Elwood should be home soon,” Buster stammered.

Another smile crept across the woman’s face. Buster had expected an answer, but she merely sipped at the drink patiently. She had waited for so long that a few more minutes seemed like nothing.

…

Elwood had stopped to catch his breath at the top of the stairwell. The elevator had gone out in his apartment building, again. The four story ascent was a challenge for his less then sleek physique. He gasped as he sluggishly walked down the hall to his apartment. He fumbled with his keys before he managed to find the right one. The door swung open as Elwood burst into his abode, exhausted. All he wanted was a nice cold beer and a drastically long nap. He would find that such trifles would instantly become the last thing on his mind.

Elwood did not believe what he saw sitting at his kitchen table. There wasn’t a point to saying her name. Buster grinned like a homeless man surrounded by French fries. He bounded out the front door.

“I’ll leave you two kids alooone,” Buster cooed.

The front door clicked shut and they stared at each other in silence. No words could describe what they were thinking. All they could do was stare until Annie stood up. She walked over to Elwood and looked him over and nodded with approval. She looked up at Elwood, trying to penetrate his sunglasses with her gaze. This task was impossible, so she simply removed them.

“You’re lucky, Buster wasn’t around to see that or you’d have some serious trouble on your hands,” Elwood threatened.

Annie took off his hat and rustled his hair.

“Now you’re just pushing it…” Elwood said sternly.

Annie stood on her tip toes and planted a kiss on Elwood’s cheek. He practically melted beneath her lips. Elwood tried to keep his composure. He wasn’t sure where they stood.

“Where’ve you been?” Elwood inquired.

Annie took a minute to ponder the question. She stared off into space and her face took on a sterner expression. When she looked back up at Elwood she couldn’t help but smile.

“I went to Catholic School after you and Jake were arrested. That didn’t last long.” She explained. “I met a lawyer, we got married.”

Elwood’s heart sank and Annie could see how much it pained him.

“It only lasted a couple of years. He found somebody…some blonde…and I really didn’t care. It wasn’t the same as…us,” She said cheerfully. “I’ve been teaching music full time at the elementary school. When I started seeing you guys popping up in the papers I tried to track you down. You just kept getting put in the slam and I gave up…not for long. I remembered how a couple years back I saw your name in the paper again, so I thought...why not look you up?”

The silence overcame them again. They knew things weren’t the same. So many summers had passed and so many friends were gone. New adventures had unfolded, new friends had been made and so many had been forgotten. The days of their youth seemed so long ago, but they would not let a precious memory from those days age. There had been times when they had pushed past tender memories in order to live freely and joyously. They’d rarely spoken of the early days because they found that there was something about them that should be left unsaid. Retelling those events through meek chains of syllables did not seem to do it justice.

“Planning on sticking around?” Elwood asked.

Annie nodded.

Elwood could bare it no longer. He was not known for his ability to resist temptation, let alone control himself. He grabbed Annie and laid one on her. They kissed like they were teenagers again, hiding in the attic and up to no good.

Author’s Note: It’s been two years since I wrote ‘Can’t Turn You Loose.’ I looked back at it and thought it was a terribly fanfiction, but I recently received a comment that made me take a second look. As requested, here is an epilogue. If you can vaguely remember that hideous sequel that I deleted FORGET IT EVER EXISTED. I am far more satisfied with this. I hope this satisfied you as well.