With the opening of the front door and a tuned introduction, Lois reminded him of her name. He hated that. Not her name. Names don't annoy him but after two and a half years she still acts like Kasper Rune will forget who she is.
The words boisterous and annoying pop in his mind wrapped in quotation marks. Wrapped rather nicely actually. Like those wrappers that you pull and untwist revealing a creamy caramel. Kasper just loved caramels. He likes the fact that you need to chew a second to loosen what stuck from the first. His dentist on the other hand does not like caramels.
With Mr. Rune's acknowledgment of Lois his foot catches the rug which Lois had excitingly set out this particular morning for patrons to brush the bottom of their shoes on. She had bought it with her own money at the market. A split second was doubled, no, it was tripled in the minds of the onlookers as Rune's satchel catches the door handle changing his momentum and spinning him so he was facing the ceiling. Impulse whispered and he reached out to "boisterous" and "annoying" but failed to catch her hand.
Clarice cherished the moments she had with Kasper each morning. Eggs over easy. Bacon crisp. English muffin buttered and moist but edges crunchy. That's what he made her every morning since that special afternoon when she gave him her heart. He would place her meal in front of her and she would batter her eyes and he would love that. He would even tell her that he loved that. It was their "thank you" and "your welcome." They were more thankful for each other than for the breath they were blessed with. They had their special ways to share this.
The Rune's had one of those phones where you had to spin the dial/wheel and there would be this rhythmic ticking sound while it returned to the starting position waiting for the second, third, seventh spin to complete the call. It was a beige color with a black spiraled chord.
Midmorning that tuesday, Clarice had thought she had heard that beige phone ring but she was in the backroom at the time. The backroom was where her piano was stored. Kasper had bought this piano from the Breehan's who live down on main street next to the library and the towns' rose garden. They had one of those victorian type houses. Pilliars and such. It was a beautiful house. Stark white as if they scrubbed it by hand at the close of each week. The piano was not so beautiful. It was bare. It looked as if it was set outside in the rain for at least a day, maybe two. But Clarice had said it was the best birthday gift she had ever gotten in her whole 26 years. She looked a bit older than her age but was a pretty girl and thought the piano was beautiful in its own little way. It was from her Love.
The phone rang again. This time she could clearly hear it. Somehow though the ring accompanied the song Clarice was playing well and so she let it ring and played on. She was writing a song for her mother who had been admitted to the "crazy house" just months before. They were close. Her and her mother. Now they don't talk. But Clarice prays to her Jesus to save her mother and let her speak again. Kasper had told her that the Lord still performs miracles and Clarice believes that with all her heart. So she prays.
Even now as then Clarice plays her piano everyday. She praises her Jesus for saving her mother and for holding Kasper in place of her own arms.
She loves to cry. It is her way of laughing.
She loves to sing. It is her way of sitting in silence.
She wishes that she had answered the phone to hear her husbands voice one last time.
1 comment:
Interesting. Do you have any more of this?
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