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#ABPOS The Thinner Soul, Chp. 6
Radiance- I'm a bit of a sandal. Funny I'm not into beaches though. He is, and he was however. I've always taken a liking to sitting poolside instead. I think it's an image I've seen enough to want to recreate and it gets rid of all the sand. Sand! That's it! Sand and Stars. It's what I've been waiting for.. for the name of the album to fall out of the clutter in my mind. First perhaps the name and then the songs; all for a cute and organized closet in the mind. That's always the way I hope it to be, but four months, four sightings, and one hell of an interruption later.. It's all chaos.
I tried to size up his voice on the line, but he's to professional to call it. I even tried to wiggle my way out of sand and surf after a night like last night, but I don't even think it registered to him. Older men. They're not so pushy, but maybe just a little hard of hearing. I've been hard of hearing too, but not now. Well, I was because I was in disbelief. Now I believe them both, and they both believe me.
"Those." the voice in my ear speaks and I can recognize him pointing with his eyes.
"Huh.." I look up and then around. I've heard it before, but quieter. I've listened before too, but stiller. I'm only trying to decide which sandal to pair with my new red jean skirt with the large attached pockets. So why is he talking to me? Please stop! is what I really want to say, but we've been talking about the dress and I'm too much of her now to pull the plug. Maybe he knew all along, but he surely knows now that things have changed. I'm almost sure that's the reason he's not leaving and I can't imagine how any of this ends. By the time the phone rings.. I should have my shoes on and I'm still barefoot. I'm walking back and forth from the bathroom to the bedroom fumbling around in my beach bag and the voice seems to subside. I answer with a quick text, and pick the ones he pointed at. I'm smiling, and I assume he is too. I mean, I usually can tell when he's smiling or what he might just smile about. I look down on my phone as I make my way down and he's responded.. "bring a jacket". I reenter my apartment, and as soon as I open the door I close my eyes. It's the place where he meets me, and now I can't get rid of him. It strikes me as way too far-fetched, but I'm praying that he doesn't see me and decide to ask about the jacket. I drop to the floor as I hit my bedroom and find my way to the closet without looking in the mirror as to not set off any alarms. I quietly slide the door across and enter through a dark and narrow path. I slide the door shut again, and the light comes on. I pull my patent leather puffed sleeve jacket off my beloved Eight hanger and find my way back out without hearing from him.
I approach the car with tears in my eyes. I'm torn from east to west in my heart, and the tear begins with the thought that one opening started too long ago to still be there, and the other really is just starting to feel like more than a surface wound. I want to bury my head in one of the puff sleeves, but I turn and wipe them quickly before I reach the door.
"So what's with the jacket?" I'm speeding and trying to keep from scuffing both sides of the unfolding story..
"Interesting choice." I hear his words and I don't bother to mention my change of shoes. They're both interesting but such is the life of Radiance Dunbar.
"We need to talk that's all. Maybe beaches are good places to talk, but if not.. We'll grab something."
By the time we get to a place where there's enough quiet and room to think about the night before, I'm almost ready to hear that it not going to work out and I've grown interestingly comfortable with the idea as a theory for "sand and stars". I can fell the upside-downness in my stomach turning upright and most of my thoughts are moving towards the new music. It's my way, but when will he spit it out. I begin to think, what if he's just torturing me and then he won't mention a thing. When the first set of drinks come, I'm contemplating "What if the interruption was an outer body experience. What if he doesn't even know he was there?" My white wine tells me to play it cool, but his beer tells him to speed it up.
"So tell me about the dress you bought." I hear the words play like yesterday's news and I'm dazed by how complex but gently the problem in laid before me.
"It's only four months."
"So will you be taking my name, or will you be keeping yours?"
"Do you have a request?"
"Boy, Radiance.. can you ever just answer a question?" I know his beef is the way I jumped the first hurdle, but then he could have just came clean. I mean I'm the one with no keys or deeds to the operation of this phenomena. I'm only trying to steer clear long enough to assess what it all means, and how I got a second chance at forty.
"Radiance Dunbar it is." I exclaim with my glass raised and extended in front of me, but there's no mug or cheer or splashes of beverage to be kissed away.
"If you remain a Dunbar, will you ever forget the dress?" It's the question I heard myself ask months ago. How it came to him the exact same way is staggering, but it does and I'm sitting still with the fact that we are no longer passing thru clouds, but that we've rushed ashore in our countdown.
We sit quietly. We eat. We smile periodically at each other, but there are no more questions. It's a fair space to be in, yet it's the suggestion that one's on the way that steals the quiet.
A Better Pair of Shoes “The Thinner Soul”, a novel
Copyright 2020 by Natisha Renee Williams and Grace Call Communications, LLC
Also Known As… #ABPOS The Thinner Soul
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UnEarth!
Following UnEarth? Write behind me as I unveil my new Suspended-Release Novel.. A Better Pair of Shoes "The Thinner Soul". Write 2 Chapters a week. Try Monday's and Thursday's and look for new graphics as I move along in my release. Beginning with Chapter 7, introduce your second plot layer and if applicable introduce your third main character or sub-character.
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All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Written permission must be secured from the author Natisha R. Williams and/or Grace Call Communications, LLC to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotation in critical reviews or articles.
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