I'm a Slow Walker

Matthew steps out of his 2017 Chevy Trax, and begins walking down through the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial. As he makes his way, cloaked in darkness, he looks at his phone clearly concerned, as it is getting late. He walks beside the roaring fountains, the statue of Eleonore, past the stones, disheveled about the ground, and past the sign language mural. He stops again, looks down at his phone, no messages, no calls, just his screen saver of X-Men's Storm. He stops by a staircase, and looks at the towering Washington Monument across the pond filled with water from the flowing Potomac.

"He's not coming," Matthew says to himself, as sadness drips from the words as they leave his mouth.

However, something won't allow him to leave. It won't allow him to walk back. So walking through the entrance of the Roosevelt Memorial, past the colossal stone cut out of Martin Luther King Jr; Matthew makes his way across the street. As he briskly walks past the Vietnam Memorial, he looks up at the acropolis that is the Lincoln Memorial.

"What the hell, since I'm out here why not get a nice leg workout," he says to himself, as he begins towards the towering monument.

As Matthew stands at the foot of the long staircase, he looks up at the massive figure inside. He takes a deep breath, and runs up every stair until he is literally standing before the chains that block him from the man beholden the name Honest Abe. As he stands at the foot of this man, who himself, had a controversial past involving a homosexual relationship, he pushes his sweaty jet black curly hair from his forehead. Breathing heavily, he feels something upon his back. It's a hand. The voice recites the beginning of an Abraham Lincoln quote.

"I am a slow walker...," the voice says, as Matthew continues to look up at Honest Abe.

"But I never walk back," Matthew says, continuing the Lincoln quote, turning to see a beautiful Italian male in an Officer Dress Blue Uniform on one knee.

"Mateo," says Matthew, with his hands covering his mouth, and tears filling his eyes.

"Matthew, I met you in this very place 3 years ago, and since that day, my world has been filled with so much beauty, joy and laughter," he says, laughing through a clearly clogged throat.

Matthew smiles as a single tear rolls down his vibrant mahogany skin.

"I want to know, will you continue to share this life with me, travel with me, love me, and let me love, honor, and cherish you for the rest of my days?"

Matthew gets on his knees in front of this beautiful man, and through tears replies, "I want to be your one and only, but I can't. You are still married... to your wife."

Matthew stands, tears still streaming down his face, walking past Matteo rubbing his shoulder making his way down the stairs, past the reflecting pool, and back to his 2017 Chevy Trax.