CHAPTER 1- I SAW HER AGAIN

I saw her.

Again.

She was standing there in the field of sunflowers. Why sunflowers? I don't know. She wore a slight smile, just for me. Only me. She looked different and I noticed. Still wearing the purple polyester pants. The brushstoked top in hues of teal and lavendar.

Her abdomen was no longer distended and she didn't look "old." She still carried the large purse, the pony colored one. The one so large, with so many pockets, you didn't know where to begin to look for anything. Ask her and she could produce said object within two seconds. I knew her funny money was tucked away somewhere inside, a souvenir of Canada to be spent another year. There were papers pouring out of the pockets, but they were still in order.

She dug in her purse, slow to produce the white tissue. It was fresh and unwrinkled. She raised it like a flag of surrender. Waving it, making it dance like the sunflowers she stood behind.

I couldn't move. I didn't want to move.

I glanced to the sky."Please, God. Just one more minute."

I noticed the tears. The were now rolling down my face. Had I been crying this whole time?

I extended my hand and reached for the tissue. Her hand came to mine.