A Life Without Wings

Chapter Three
The Apparition

In the evening Abigail is laying in her bed and pondering the events that had transpired during the day at the general store. She still has a difficult time trying to wrap her mind around the resemblance of the handsome stranger who had just arrived in town. During the night she would toss and turn every which way until through the process of time exhaustion overcame her, and she finally falls asleep at about three in the morning. She was an intelligent woman, but this conundrum seems to tie her stomach along with her fragile emotions into an intangible knot. She had struggle accepting the reality of his death ten years earlier, but now she realized the man she had planned on growing old with was just a heartbroken memory tucked away somewhere in the deepest part of her soul. It was just like when that nickel had stood upon its edge in the graveyard, which reminded her of her Clifford. This man's appearance brought up their entire life like a scab being torn away and revealing the emotional pain of their life all over again. She squeezes on her feather pillow asking God, "why? Why? When I had finally begun to move on with our lives?" Sitting on the edge of the bed is the ghostly appearance of Clifford with his head turned away from Abigail unable to witness her sorrow from so many memories of their lives. He cries out to God, "Please God, take me away from her pain for my spirit is vexed between heaven and earth over her sorrow!" Clifford's presence then vanishes into nothingness and a stillness returns to her sleeping chamber.
In the morning at Hoot's general store, the stranger that had arrived into town on the previous day is seen walking in through the front doors. He walks up to the counter and the man behind the counter asks, "what will your pleasure be?" He asks to see the other man that works there at the store. The clerk replies, "I am the only person to work here." as he points at the store sign and says, "you see I am Hoot, owner, clerk, stock boy, and cashier, the only worker here for the last five years, so how may I help you?" The man thinks to himself, "how strange?" But then ask if he would be needing some extra help of a strong, handsome, an honest man who's down on his luck." He looks at him and says, " do you have a name? And do you know how to use a broom?" He replies, "yes sir, I am Ezra Bartholomew Green from Chicago, West Virginia." The clerk says," well, those floors aren't going to sweep up themselves."
It has been about a week since going to Hoot's store and everything has seemed to return to the status quo in their lives. Soda Pop and his mama are on the dusty road leading to Hoots as they are hand in hand singing the old spiritual "Amazing Grace." They arrive at the store, walk up the steps, still singing. The walk through the front door and come face to face with the new clerk, which was no other than Clifford's living twin. He remarks, "now that old spiritual is one if my all time favorites. "They stop dead in their tracks, look at one another and the stranger introduces himself as "Ezra Bartholomew Green." This information caught her completely off guard as she replies, "my Clifford's last name was also Green." She requests a bottle of grape soda for her son. He hands her a bottle of "Red Rock grape soda and she exchanges it for a nickel. Ezra sees this as an opportunity to do something they had done on the day they met for the very first time. She hands him the nickel as their hands come together one upon another, as they both linger for a moment enthralled by the warm of each other's touch. She was in the depths of denial on what had just occurred but it made her feel the chemistry of emotion that she had not felt since the passing of her Clifford and whether she was able to admit it to herself or not, she liked it very much. She thanks him turns with her son and walks toward the door. She pushes the door open, but not before turning her head back toward Ezra and leaving him with one of her inviting smiles. They walk out the door and like Abigail he cannot take his eyes off of her. He stands there holding the nickel still in his hand and thinking to himself, "My oh' my Miss Abigail is one fine figure of a woman." They follow the dusty road back home and Soda Pop says to his mama, "It was sure nice seeing daddy again, huh mama?" She stops in the middle of the road and says to her son, "that was not your daddy he is just a guy that kind of looks like your daddy, remember your daddy now lives at the Petros graveyard?" He looks up at her and says, "no, I didn't mean Ezra, I mean daddy he was standing right beside Ezra when you were paying for my Red Rock." She then says to Soda Pop, "you go ahead and run back home and see if Garland is awake yet? And I will catch up with you in a few minutes because I forgot to get something at the store." Her son begins walking toward the house as she makes a mad dash toward the general store. It was times just like this when she was thankful her daddy had pushed her into joining the cross country racing team from high school. She arrives at the country store, runs through the door with one push and standing behind the counter now is Mr. Hoot with a plastered smile upon his face. She stops abruptly and says to him. " Mr. Hoot where is the other man that was behind the counter, you know the black man that looked like Clifford?" He smiles and says, "something tells me a little romance is in the air? He just left for lunch but he will be back in about an hour if you want to wait?" She thanks him but says, "Its really nothing I will come back on another day." She walks out the door very slowly mumbling under her breath as if her life was over. She heads down the road toward her house where the children are awaiting her arrival. She begins to talk to herself in a low tone like she is Mr. Hoot and says, " well, romance must be in the air, my foot!" It was just then she stops in the center of the road and says, "oh' my I think he might be right? What am I doing anyway? My goodness, I am acting like a young school girl!" She arrives home and starts focusing on the boys that were now getting hungry for lunch. Soda Pop looks at his mama and says, "so did you get to see daddy this time?" She looks at her son feeling more confused then on the day she had met Ezra.

The end of chapter three