Throwing the Yellow Dodder--Snippet 1

* This is a work of fiction.

  Tick, tock. Tick, tock. The second hand beat its path around the endless, circular path. Fifteen till three. The morning and half the afternoon had lasted so long. Mable wondered if the batteries weren’t a little weak, but Joe had just changed them last week. They usually lasted at least a month, but maybe the clock itself was tired of keeping up with the time like she was. She wasn’t really worried, but liked something to think about. Lucy was never late. Every day at three, Lucy came. She was never late and she never missed a day; even in bad weather. Lucy was the best nurse she had, had since she had come to stay at Prim Willow Place. Lucy had become her refuge; the three o’ clock prison break.


“Get ya’ frown off, Mrs. Mable. Ya’ ain’t got nothin’ to frown about. I ain’t seen you wipin’ any babies’ butts and sho' ain’t seen you troublin’ ya’self with the men folk. Men and babies ain’t much different. Only their underpants is bigger.”

“I about thought you wasn’t coming Lucy. I was getting worried.”

“All you oldies think Miss Lucy does nothin’ till three. I live two full days in the morning time alone. You should never worry ya’ little heart, Mrs. Mable. I wouldn’t miss this for Denzel Washington.”

“I knew you wouldn’t forget. Old women, like me, just like having something to worry about. Everything else we’ve worried about has passed away. I would try knitting, but needlepoint never did get my attention.”

“Get ya’ jacket, Mrs. Mable. It may be Spring, but Old Man Winter’s still slinkin’ around; just like a man. They always creppin’ around somewhere, doing things they not suppose to do. Only been one good man and that’s Jesus, but we ain’t seen him on Oprah yet, so we don't know everything.”

Lucy pushed the wheelchair through the germ-free halls that reeked of 409. They walked passed the nurse’s station and accidentally interrupted the Spanish class taking place in the Activity Hall. It wasn’t exactly a mistake. Mable knew the class was taking place there, but had insisted that Lucy cut through the room; getting outside seemed much more important than manners. Old age was no time for manners. It was moving too fast to be nice, life that is, not Prim Willow Place. All those old people acting like it was fun hanging out in God’s waiting room. Ain’t nobody need to learn Spanish past sixty. Heaven’s gonna be bilingual, hopefully silent, so you don’t have to waste any words. She had learned the most in her life just watching the world around her; not talking to it....


Snippet 2 on the way,
   David