Throwing the Yellow Dodder-Snippet 12

* This is a continuation of a work of fiction. You can read Snippet 11 here.

..."I know you woulda' raised ya' hands like the Holy Spirit done showed for the first time at that Episcopal church no one seems like they ever go to...."


"Thanks for telling me that, Mrs. Mable. I wish Melvin came with a story like that, but he was bad from the very beginning. My daddy told me he was a no good rat of a man, but I seemed to be into rodents at the time and didn't listen to anyone; not even myself. I talked my sweet momma into letting me run away with him, but my daddy was righter than rain. He was the rat of all rats. I would even say he was the king of the rats, but...."


"Now, Mrs. Lucy, it seems that you haven't listened to a damn thing I've said all day..."


"I sure have. In fact, I could repeat most everything you've said. I've enjoyed this walk more than you can imagine and I'm sad its almost over..."


"I knew it, Lord, I knew it. You haven't heard to a thing. You should know there's a big difference between hearin' and listenin'." 


"I have to and you can't prove I haven't been listenin'. And Mrs. Mable, I've been alive long enough to know that difference. Now, I may get several plant names wrong, but I promise..."


"Mrs. Lucy, this whole time I've been trying to tell you the same thing a bunch of different ways. Mrs. Lucy life's dealt you several truckloads of fresh cow manure and trust me, I know it smells bad and it'll take years to clean up and you may never not have a little manure in your nostrils, but  ya' know what?"


"I don't think I've got a hint of a clue of what you're talkin' 'bout at all, Mrs. Mable. So, what?"


"Ain't nothin' ever grown well without a little manure. You know all those pretty trees and flowers? They couldn't grow to be much of nothin' without some type of manure bein' dropped around it or somethin' dying off near it. Now, sure life's dropped its load off and drove off seemin' like its smilin' in the rearview for as far as you can see. And now its your time to grow, young lady. God's given you a boy; and a beautiful one if he looks anything like his momma. You can grow that little boy into somethin' important or ya' grow keep waterin' him and you with all that ugly bitterness thats wellin' inside you and you already know what ya' gonna get. This world's already done been filled up with people spewin' bitterness all 'round. Seems I can't get a good breath these days without gettin' a whiff of it. And most importantly, ya' could grow that good boy into a man and we both know there ain't enough of those. Look at what the good Lord did with 12 mediocre men, imagine what he could do with one good one here in Alabama where the soil's good. Now, dry up those tears and send that bitterness to the hot place. I know it's hard. It's damn hard business we're talkin' about. Oh, do I know 'bout that. I know it about twice. " 


"Mrs. Mable, I've been needin' to hear that for a long, long time. I'm a bitter, bitter lady and you and I both know that's the truest thing I've said. It just seems ya' get buried by it and it snuffs the light out of a girl. It's like one of those fake candles that's all the rage the days; the light's there, but the fire has long ago died out. It's not hard for a lady to try make my whole world look bitter too and I've been passin' it down to my sweet, baby boy."


"Well, I think that sounds like its time for you and me to make a deal."


"Okay, I guess that sounds good, but I'd be a foolish woman to make a deal with a lady like you without hearin' some of what I'd be gettin' myself involved in."


"Well, here it is. This old lady's gonna do her damnedest to let her sweet William go as sweetly and and as quietly as he lived on this old earth and you turn that boy into somethin' big and great like his momma..."


"I think that sounds like a pretty good, hard, but good bargin. I think I'd be willin' to try my hand at somethin' like that at least for awhile."


"Good, I had a feeling I could talk ya' into something like that. People always feel bad for old people. It's one of the only gimmicks I've got left. Old people and handicap dogs got a lot in common and for good reason. I just wish I could get people to donate money to me like they do those animal shelters, but then again, if Primrose was a shelter, we all know a grouch like me woulda' been put down long ago and Lord knows no one in their right mind woulda' taken me home. We'd better shake on this to make it official before we both turn into the cowards we both know its easier to be." They grabbed each other's hand and held it longer than usual. It was as if something left Mable and went into Lucy. They both felt it, but neither said anything. They didn't want to miss something that they'd probably never feel again. They both quickly let go because it scared them like the first time they knew what being alive was really about. They let go and looked away.


"Well, I feel a little better for sure. It must be this cool wind and the vitamin D gettin' through to my cells. It feels like a brand dew day. The manure stinks, but there's something different about it. Seems everything just got a little sweeter."


"It's hope, darlin'. Ya' gotta have a little hope. We wouldn't want to open our little eyes each day if we didn't think that ole' sun was gonna warm us so. But, I think we'd better get going. If my nose still works and and my belly is on schedule, I think its about time for us to eat and I think tonight's meatloaf night and I think they're adding that brown gravy with it. All this talking and crying can make an old woman hungry for sure." 


"Well, lets go then, Mrs. Mable, but I'll push you in on one condition and that condition is that we'd better do another one of these walks sooner rather later."


"That sounds like a good plan to me as long you get me to that food line before that sour old lady from room 314. She's enough to ruin a starving man's appetite."


"Woman, you say the craziest things I think I've ever heard and I've heard some things that would've made a whole tribe of priests blush, but I guess you can just about say what you want when you reach a certain age. I can try to get you ahead of her, but she moves fast for a woman who says her feet ache. Hold on and let's get going..."


They made their way back inside Primwillow Place and Mable sat by herself slowly eating the meatloaf and dipping her carrots in the thick, brown gravy. She mostly ate slowly because for the first time in a long time, she tasted the food and it wasn't half bad. Lucy put the wheelchair up and got her medicine cart. She felt sad for the people who had to take so many pills. It sure had to be bad to come to the end of your life and depend on a cup full of pills you couldn't pronounce the name of in order to make it through the day. Temporary relief. It seemed that the older she got, the more people tried to find it. It just didn't make any sense to her, but then again, there wasn't much she did understand about this life. She did know that they had both made plans that would change their tomorrows and it felt so good; just like the wind that had come off the lake during their walk. And sometime soon, they'd go for another walk, but mostly they'd talk. Everything seemed a little better, even the manure. 


The End.


Happy Reading and let me know what you think,


  David