Ray stayed in bed late the next morning. After Maggie left for work, he fixed some coffee and took a cup into the spare bedroom and sat it on the desk as he booted up the computer. Dreamer was nowhere online, but he felt an excited jolt when he saw that there was an email from her. He clicked on it and began reading:

"Dear Ray,

I want you to know how much I have enjoyed chatting with you and getting to know you. You have a beautiful heart and soul that you had almost smothered in your pursuit of material things. Take care of the things of most value. You have precious treasures right in front of your eyes if you will only look. You have precious treasures inside your heart, if you will only let them out. Don't forget your quote. Life is not a dress rehearsal. Each moment is precious. Use them wisely.

I need to move on now, and so do you, but I'll always be with you. Follow your dreams, Ray. You are a dreamer."

Ray was embarrassed to feel a tear forming in the corner of his eye. He wasn't sure what had happened to him the last few days. He wasn't sure of his feelings. He only knew that he felt more alive than he had in years. He decided to get dressed and go downtown. He might drop by Papa Joe's Pool Hall. There was something melancholy about the place. The late King Oliver, who had played with Louis Armstrong had spent his last days there racking pool balls in the '50s.

Ray could hear the saxophone before he saw the aging Black man leaning against the wall. The music was so powerful it wrapped itself around his heart and stirred emotions that were already lying raw. Ray sat with the old man there on the cobblestones and listened as he mourned the invasion of change. He couldn't help but agree with the old man that people were loosing the most important things and replacing the things of value with fake, cheap counterfeits. He thought of Freddy and wondered how he was doing. He had looked pretty desperate yesterday. He hoped the guy didn't do anything stupid and end up in worse trouble. Ray reached into his wallet to take out some bills to give to the old man, but he held up his hand and refused the money. "No, I didn't play for you to receive money. The look in your eyes is why I play. That is my reward. Many people come by and listen occasionally, but very few hear the music like you do. That's why I still play this music."

Ray thanked him and walked away, letting the music penetrate his mind, until he could no longer hear it. He wanted to get Maggie some roses for tonight. It had been a long time since he had bought her flowers and he liked the feeling. Hayden saw him and came running out of the Octopus' Garden to say hello.

"Oh my! You must be celebrating something special tonight with those lovely roses. Maggie will love them."

"Oh nothing in particular, but it does feel like a special night." Ray carefully placed the flowers in the seat of his Durango and hurried home.

The River's End had been his favorite restaurant since they had come to Savannah. It was adjacent to the Palmer Johnson Marina down on the Intracoastal Waterway. There was a full moon that night and he kept telling Maggie how beautiful she looked. Maggie seemed distant, and as if she would burst into tears any moment. As they found a table by the window overlooking the harbor, he asked her if there was anything in particular wrong.

"Let's order first, Ray. Then we have some things we need to talk about."

Ray felt a deep foreboding beginning to build inside him. He had wanted this to be a fun time, but he knew something dark was building. He barely tasted the steak and shrimp as he watched Maggie struggling with whatever it was she needed to say. He prepared himself for what he knew was coming. Across the room an Asian girl was watching him and he pretended not to notice the wink she gave him. Maggie held on to his hand as she began to tell him how sorry she was that they had drifted apart and that there was nothing left between them to build upon. She said that no one was to blame and that she would always care for him.Ray tried to tell her they just needed some time away to get to know each other again but he had no words to say when she explained that she was in a relationship with a woman she had met at work, and that they were making plans to move to San Francisco. She wanted a divorce. He wondered if it was all just the results of choices he had made. The flickering reflections of the moon on the water blurred as Ray stared into the darkness. The music from the piano seemed far away as he tried to fit the pieces together. Suddenly he felt alone. As if his life were ending. And it was, as he had known it. It took a long while for him to begin to realize that with every ending, there is also a new beginning.