Congratulations Dani on your winning contribution.
I enjoyed reading your tale very much!
The memories were there in the wafting scent that rushed through me the moment I opened its pages. It had been years, yet I still remember the day we mingled with each other, finding everyone we wanted to give well-wishes to at the end of the year.
I look down at my empty hand and could have sworn it held a pen a moment ago. The purple one I always used for such occasions. But then my eyes focused on the deep creases in my fingers and realized my hands are different now. My fingers skimmed the pages and ran over the young faces of those I once knew long ago. Scrawled next to one face it said "Get some this summer." with a smiley face etched next to it mockingly.
I recalled how confused I had been the first time I read this with my innocent mind. I had thought the person had accidentally left out a word in the phrase. I smiled quietly at my young ignorance, the ignorance that was lost all too soon. The ignorance that I know is rare anymore among those this age in school.
Shaking my head, I turned the page and there it was. The reason I had crept to the attic, sifted through dusty boxes, and aggravated my asthma. His face smiled up at me from the page. He had been Mr. Mirror, meaning the prince of the school for that year. I thought back and caught myself blushing at my old crush. Quite in the same way I had blushed when he approached me in the coffee shop yesterday.
His face was older, wiser, kinder and he smiled at me. My breath caught as I realized who he was and his words confused me. He knew my name! He asked about my life, and I caught his eye appraising my naked left hand. My face grew hot again. After all these years... after a marriage... children... divorce... counseling... and finally getting my feet under myself, he suddenly appears before me like a beacon from the past.
I checked my watch and bring the book with me to go primp. I didn't know what to do with myself. Not too much makeup. Should I try to recreate how I had looked at the coffee shop - with a little more lipstick - a little squirt of perfume.
The doorbell rings.
Hi Edward.
Visit Barbed Wire and Roses to see more wonderful photography.
I enjoyed reading your tale very much!
The memories were there in the wafting scent that rushed through me the moment I opened its pages. It had been years, yet I still remember the day we mingled with each other, finding everyone we wanted to give well-wishes to at the end of the year.
I look down at my empty hand and could have sworn it held a pen a moment ago. The purple one I always used for such occasions. But then my eyes focused on the deep creases in my fingers and realized my hands are different now. My fingers skimmed the pages and ran over the young faces of those I once knew long ago. Scrawled next to one face it said "Get some this summer." with a smiley face etched next to it mockingly.
I recalled how confused I had been the first time I read this with my innocent mind. I had thought the person had accidentally left out a word in the phrase. I smiled quietly at my young ignorance, the ignorance that was lost all too soon. The ignorance that I know is rare anymore among those this age in school.
Shaking my head, I turned the page and there it was. The reason I had crept to the attic, sifted through dusty boxes, and aggravated my asthma. His face smiled up at me from the page. He had been Mr. Mirror, meaning the prince of the school for that year. I thought back and caught myself blushing at my old crush. Quite in the same way I had blushed when he approached me in the coffee shop yesterday.
His face was older, wiser, kinder and he smiled at me. My breath caught as I realized who he was and his words confused me. He knew my name! He asked about my life, and I caught his eye appraising my naked left hand. My face grew hot again. After all these years... after a marriage... children... divorce... counseling... and finally getting my feet under myself, he suddenly appears before me like a beacon from the past.
I checked my watch and bring the book with me to go primp. I didn't know what to do with myself. Not too much makeup. Should I try to recreate how I had looked at the coffee shop - with a little more lipstick - a little squirt of perfume.
The doorbell rings.
Hi Edward.
Visit Barbed Wire and Roses to see more wonderful photography.
3 comments:
The book always fell open to the same well-worn page.
The words spill out
Paper inked with proper poems
Full of better days -
Days of long walks
and less noise.
Born in the wrong century
I turn to you -
I make my way gingerly
through your lovelies
And yearn
to be a stronger woman.
The memories were there in the wafting scent that rushed through me the moment I opened its pages. It had been years, yet I still remember the day we mingled with each other, finding everyone we wanted to give well-wishes to at the end of the year.
I look down at my empty hand and could have sworn it held a pen a moment ago. The purple one I always used for such occasions. But then my eyes focused on the deep creases in my fingers and realized my hands are different now. My fingers skimmed the pages and ran over the young faces of those I once knew long ago. Scrawled next to one face it said "Get some this summer." with a smiley face etched next to it mockingly.
I recalled how confused I had been the first time I read this with my innocent mind. I had thought the person had accidentally left out a word in the phrase. I smiled quietly at my young ignorance, the ignorance that was lost all too soon. The ignorance that I know is rare anymore among those this age in school.
Shaking my head, I turned the page and there it was. The reason I had crept to the attic, sifted through dusty boxes, and aggravated my asthma. His face smiled up at me from the page. He had been Mr. Mirror, meaning the prince of the school for that year. I thought back and caught myself blushing at my old crush. Quite in the same way I had blushed when he approached me in the coffee shop yesterday.
His face was older, wiser, kinder and he smiled at me. My breath caught as I realized who he was and his words confused me. He knew my name! He asked about my life, and I caught his eye appraising my naked left hand. My face grew hot again. After all these years... after a marriage... children... divorce... counseling... and finally getting my feet under myself, he suddenly appears before me like a beacon from the past.
I checked my watch and bring the book with me to go primp. I didn't know what to do with myself. Not too much makeup. Should I try to recreate how I had looked at the coffee shop - with a little more lipstick - a little squirt of perfume.
The doorbell rings.
Hi Edward.
----
(heehee, hack hack, of course I had to use that name! lol)
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