Love in An Elevator

I recently read an article that's stuck with me. It compared retirement villages to high school. The dating, the gossip, the 'scandals' - all very similar. I've always known that the elderly become child-like, but had never entertained the commonality between senior citizens and seniors in high school.

I have a distant relative in a retirement village. Let's call her Martha, though that's not her real name. She's still in good health, 80s, exercises daily, drives, etc. Very mobile, very active. She's been widowed for more than a decade but still very much in mourning. She's made room for male companions, next to her dead husband, to bring a little life into her day.

The first guy she dated in the 'ville - let's call him Ebenezer - shared her interest/level of mourning for a dead spouse, and was a frequent companion. Seemed like a nice guy, he came to a family reunion, though she recently ditched him for another. Apparently he had boundaries - he wouldn't eat with her in the cafeteria, and when they went somewhere together he met her in the garage. Very stealth, very discreet. I guess he was trying to stay out of the public eye. Hello, Eb, you live in a retirement community. Everyone has nothing but time on their hands and makes your business, their business. Wake up!

Back to Martha. New guy - let's call him Earl - has been checking her out for a few years. Widowed for awhile, Earl recently caught her alone in the lobby or on the elevator and struck up a conversation. This one was more engaging, willing to be in the spotlight with her (relatively speaking), and thus she dumped boyfriend #1. Earl, God bless him, is a retired cop in declining health, also in his 80s. He has poor eyes, bad knees, can't stand long but is hell bent on getting a job. Each week Martha helps him look at the classifieds and drives him around to fill out applications. She knows it's unrealistic, but she goes through the motions with him. And in exchange, he isn't ashamed to be seen with her in the cafeteria, the craft room, the auditorium. I think it's a pretty fair shake.

The article that I read went more into the rules, the amount of gossip, the cliques, etc. of the geriatic high school. Flushed out, I think it could make a great short story. Maybe start it out so that it seems like a teenage romance, revealing clues along the way that it's similar, but not. I dunno - we'll see. . .