* This is a continuation of a work of fiction.
....“Ya’ sure are quiet, Mrs. Mable. I don’t trust a quiet woman. My momma always said that a quiet woman is a plottin’ woman. This place don’t need anther episode like last month. They got us nurses walkin’ on eggshells as it is.”
“You got nothin’ to worry about, Miss Lucy. I was just thinking about Nellie. Did I ever tell you about her? She was the epitome of a woman.”
“Now, now, Mrs. Mable. This is too pretty of a day to be missin’ folks. We just need to be thankin’ the good Lord for a place to sleep, something to eat, and the sunshine. Ain’t no more promised to folks like us; just work, eat, sleep, and go back to work. We just got to be patient till the Lord calls us home; no death ‘cross Jordan, Mrs. Mable. Ain’t no hardship over there.”
“I’m not thinking or talking ‘bout death, Miss Lucy. I’m just thinking ‘bout Nellie. She would have loved a day like today. We would’ve roamed those woods and laughed till it hurt. She just loved these early spring days.”
"Lawdy, lawdy, Mrs. Mable, I can think of nothin' worse for two women to be doin' than running a muck, laughin', and carrying on out in the woods. That kind foolishness should be reserved for men only. They was born fools and they gonna die fools."
"Now, Lucy, we weren't acting the fool. We were building a nature trail. You know we had over 400 flowers, trees, and plants labeled on our little trail. It was so nice, but to tell you the truth, Nellie was the life of that trail. She was that trail."
"She sounds like quite a lady. Lot of ladies in this world that are our heartbeats. My momma was one of them ladies. Now, where we walkin' today?"
"Let's go to the trail around the lake. Can we?"
"We can go wherever ya' want, Mrs. Mable. I don't feel much like being inside today and the trail around the lake is good and long. Put ya' jacket on and hold on. Here we go."
Wind blew off the lake and hid a slight chill within its crevasses. Beams of sunshine danced and sparkled on the tops of the small waves that covered the lake. Leaves floated in chaotic, swirling orbits and landed for a short time on the path ahead of them. Mable thought about how much fun it had been to chase the falling leaves. Her great grandma had always calling it, "tagging a fairy". If you caught it, you were granted a wish as long as it was one that was pure, then it would be granted, but they never waited to see if come true. They were just kids running to the next swirling leaf and never thought to see if her wish was really coming true, but the truth be told, she thought, was that she was really always wishing to catch the next one, so she guessed it always did come true. She smiled a little as she thought of the gliding motion of her free arms extended into the air grabbing, snapping at something fully suspended and free in the air. It was as if for a brief moment they both, the leaf and her body, had beaten gravity at his game and were free from being held down on the ground.....
Snippet 3 on the way,
David
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