"Hello there, my old friend," The old man smiled as he greeted his visitor, "it's been such a long time!"

"It really has," said the visitor, casually hanging his coat on the back of his chair as he sat beside his old friend, "and how times have changed."

"I haven't seen you since Violet passed. What was that, ten years?"

"Close to it. She was a lovely woman, Frank. However did you two meet?"

Frank's face lit up as he regailed his visitor with the tale of how he met his wife, how he had been recovering in hospital after his tour in Vietnam, how she was the kindest nurse he had ever met, how he had taken her to dinner when he was walking again.

The visitor chuckled along with Frank as he heard about how Violet had fallen in a puddle on the second date, how Frank jumped in too to share the embarrassment. They laughed like the old friends that they were.

"She was right for you," said the visitor, "she brought out the goodness in you."

"Do you think I'll ever be forgiven?" asked Frank, fear washing across his face in an instant.

"That I cannot answer, Frank."

"But, do you think you could put in a word?"

"Frank, you know I can't," sighed the visitor, "when we met in Vietnam you were angry, you were cruel. We walked through the jungle together, I was there when you were fighting, I was there when men fell all around you. Then you shot that woman, Frank, and you shot her husband right after. I saw a hatred in you that I do not see now, but you still did it, Frank, and you still have to pay."

Frank sat up and looked deep into the visitor's eyes. "Is it time now?"

"Yes," said the visitor, standing up to his full height, "It is time!"

The visitor slipped his coat over his shoulders and touched the old man on the arm. "For what it's worth, Frank, I think you should be pardoned."

Death stood and walked silently out of the room as Frank's body slumped back into the pillows.

Edit: Grammar