A Better Pair of Shoes "The Thinner Soul", a novel- Chapter 6

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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 inhaled 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.. a name for the album to fall out of the clutter in my mind.  First the name and then the songs.  Something about an album name that makes a cute and organized closet of the mind.  That's always the way I hope it to be, but for four months It's been all chaos.  

I tried to size up his voice on the line, but he's too professional to call it.  I even tried to wiggle my way out of  today's sand and surf after a night like last night, but I don't think it registered to him.  Older men.  They just may be a little hard of hearing.  I've been hard of hearing too, but not anymore.  At first I was.  Mainly because I was in total disbelief.  Now I believe them both, and they both believe me.  

"Those." the voice in my ears points.

"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 jean skirt.  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 more who he remembers than who I've become.  Although he 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 and fumbling through my beach bag, which is the picture of the way I'm going back and forth in my head.  The voice subsides.  I answer with a quick text.  I pick the ones he pointed out.  I'm smiling.  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.  I drop to the floor as I hit my bedroom and find my way to the closet without looking in the mirror.  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 puffed sleeve jacket off the hanger and find my way back out without a peep from him.  

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 my jacket, but I turn and wipe them quickly before I reach the door.  

"So what's with the jacket?"  

"Interesting choice."  

"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's not going to work out, and I've grown interestingly comfortable with the idea as a theory for "sand and stars".  I can feel the upside-downness in my stomach turning upright and most of my thoughts are moving towards the new music.  I begin to think, what if he's just torturing me and 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?"  The white wine tells me to play it cool, while his beer tells him to speed it up.

"So tell me about the dress you bought."  His question plays like a well-liked song on the radio.  Yet I knew it wasn't his foremost thought.  

"It's only four months."  I pointed to the future.

"So will you be taking my name, or will you be keeping yours?"  He followed up assertively and without another blink.

"Do you have a request?"

"Boy, Radiance.. can you ever just answer a question?"  I try to steer clear long enough to assess what it all means, and how I got a second-chance at forty.  Then without another apprehension, I held on to my aviation.

"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 Dunbar, will you ever forget the dress?"  His question was as strait forward as it could get, and for the first time I'm alerted to his reservations.  I'm sitting still with the menacing truth that with every question, we were getting further along in our countdown.   

We sat quietly.  We ate.  We smiled periodically at each other, but no other questions came to the surface.  It was a clear indicator that John's last question was no rhetorical question.  I didn't feel overly prompted however, and I accepted the quiet.  It was a fair space to be in, yet it was the lingering suggestion that one was on the way that stole some of 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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