* This is a continuation of a work of fiction.
...Lucy pushed Mable along the gravel path talking and listening, teaching and learning, judging and learning. They each knew that they would have been fast and close friends had time not separated them, but where you enter this earth is yet another choice that is made for you. Primwillow Place was not exactly a great place for true friendships. It was usually a place of shallow acquaintances at best; it was full of people who had been slapped on the hand far too many times for allowing themselves to get close to someone else. They could still feel the sting and burn. They both wondered why people always thought that just because people were about the same age then that makes for quick friendships. They both knew this statement wasn't true about any age group. This thought went along with the many reasons why it was so great to put elderly people in "rest homes". Just because people are old and their bodies are a little tired and slow doesn't mean that they could be friends with other old and tired people or that they even wanted some rest. Mable knew that was the case with her and Lucy knew that she would be in the same boat with Mable.
The path led around a bend and it had a small bench overlooking a vast stretch of the lake. They didn't say anything, but silently agreed to stop for awhile. Lucy sat on the bench and watched the water lap the many small rocks that littered the shoreline. Mable watched a flock of what she thought looked like sea gulls, but they would have to have been really lost. Primwillow was a long way away from the ocean. A long, long way.
"I wish I could record this sound, Mrs. Mable, or sit a bed out here. I know I could sleep out here like one of those rocks."
"You'd better settle for a tape recording. Come Saturday you'd be wanting to slaughter a whole mess of men who've got nothin' better to do than ride around a lake like this lookin' for fish in the dark. There should be some saying about nobody being happy if a man is lookin' for something 'cause that's the truest thing I know besides nobody being allowed to smile if their momma ain't happy. And at least ya' can turn the tape off when you started feeling a little sick from all the foolishness; spend a whole day looking for something that only weighs several pounds. Just plain silliness."
"Ain't the first time men done somethin' foolish, Mrs. Mable, and it ain't the last. You and I both know that's true. Men is always tryin' to noise up a quiet place. Seems they ain't happy till you are havin' to holler over something that could be quiet."
"You said a good word there, Mrs. Lucy. A true and good word. You see those gulls, Mrs. Lucy, or have my eyes just gotten that bad?"
"No, they haven't gotten that bad yet. I was just thinking that same, crazy thing. Those loony birds are sure a long, long way from home. If I was a betting woman, I'd bet a heap of money they were followin' a man who was swearin' he knew the way. I been led in the wrong direction by a man more times than I'd like to admit."
"I know the feeling. Ridin' down some road for the hundredth time hopin' to see some sign you are going in the right direction and just knowin ya' ain't and the whole time with somethin' like cold, chicken salad getting too warm and tryin' not to cuss. Ya' don't have to tell me a thing 'bout that. I've lived it a million and one times."
"Me too, Mrs. Mable. Seems when been takin' rides from the same batch of men. Hard ta' believe most of the world got discovered by them. Guess it's not hard to find somethin' new if you're lost."
"You said it right there, Mrs. Lucy. You said it right there."
Snippet 9 on the way,
David
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