[for the Real Toads prompt:
"Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt."]
"Who is it?"
her elderly voice
asked fearfully
from behind the door.
I told her my name,
and heard bolts
being unlocked,
chains rattling.
Stepping in,
I saw the board
she had removed
from two slats,
used to barricade
the door
from attack.
She showed
me around.
"Here is
my bedroom.
It used to be ours,
but my husband
died.
And now I have
to sell
our home
and move into
Fir Park.
I will
miss it.
"Here is
where we would sit
in the evenings.
We'd have a glass
of wine.
It was so beautiful.
Life was so beautiful,
then.
"Do you have
a man?
You don't?
Oh my dear,
how sad,
that you don't
have a man."
(Now she thinks my life
is worse than hers:) )
"Yes, this
is my garden.
My husband would
see to the lawn.
I would plant
the flowers.
It was
so beautiful,
so beautiful,
every summer.
"But now
I have to leave
it all behind:
our bedroom,
this kitchen,
where we had
coffee every
morning.
The chairs
where we'd sit
those summer evenings,
smelling the flowers
and talking.
"Life,
it was so
beautiful,
then."
Heartbreaking, and periously close.
ReplyDeleteOh, this tugs at the heart-strings, Sherry. Everything beautiful is often gone, before we take time to appreciate it fully or realize that everything has a time limit.
ReplyDeleteThis one hit as you know my husband has had some health issues...which as for now seem to be managable...but made me think if I lost him..that I would move..because I would not want to live here anymore...but I think he going to be ok....bkm
ReplyDelete