Winter Season

You were that girl?

Chet was having a really hard time with the whole she was the girl that summer story. Was she really? He finally asked, “Esther, tell us something about you.”

“There really isn’t much to tell. I have shared a little with Oscar. You all call her Widow Morrison but she was my great grandmother. Her son Cliff was my grandpa and his son Walter, was my dad. When I was five he committed suicide. So my grandparents took me in and raised me.”

“What about your mom?” Chet asked.

“She died of cancer when I was three. That’s what drove my dad over the edge. He couldn’t handle her being gone.”

“Do you need help taking the truck back?”

She laughed, “my old landlord was in such ah hurry to get rid of me that he told me to keep the truck as long as I wanted. And you know what, I’m gonna hold the jerk to it.”

“I’m just glad someone is living in the house. I did general maintenance. But it’s different when someone is living in a house.”

She waved her fork at him. “So you’re the guy we were payin’.”

“That’s me.” He smiled.

“Thank you so much.”

“You know, if I would have known you were coming, I would have had the house ready to move in to.”

“Thanks,” she looked at Oscar who was picking at his dinner. “I have had some amazing hospitality.”

He finally smiled.

After Chet left and the kitchen was clean, Oscar sat on the couch. Esther handed him a cup of tea as she sat with him. He laid back and opened his arms for her. Almost automatically she slid into him. She didn’t like it that he was laying on his right side. The beat of his heart was muffled.

“About the other night,” he whispered.

“What made you wait so long to want to talk about it?”

“I wanted to give you a little space. You were very upset.”

“Oscar, you know I can’t discuss,” he stopped her.

“I know. I need you to know that you scared me to death. I have never heard another human scream out in anguish the way you did. It broke my heart.”

“Oscar, I can’t guarantee you that will never happen again. If it does, and you are the one that finds me, what you did that night was perfect.” She snuggled a little deeper into the fold of his arm.

He laid his nose in her hair. There were no fruity smells. No overpowering perfumes, just clean wonderful hair.

He woke to the smell and sound of the coffee pot. To his dismay, she was gone. He found a note by his cup. ‘O, Don’t work too hard today. I know they kicked your tail yesterday. There is a bagel in the fridge with your name on it. Come see me when you get home. You know where I’ll be. Esther’

Yelp, he smiled to himself, he was pretty sure he was bitten by the love bug. When he got home, he did exactly what she had asked, he came over.  

She jumped when he spoke; then let out a long breath, “you are much too good at being quiet.”

“Sorry.” He blushed. “Why didn’t you wake me this morning?”

“You were sleeping so soundly.”

He noticed that she had changed the flooring in the kitchen. It was a black and white checkered pattern. “Let me show you the bed room.” She had painted it beige; the wall behind the bed was grape purple. The boarder around the ceiling was purple and hunter green with a beige rope and ivy vine intertwined pattern on it. That purple wall had a gold set of ornate hooks holding up a large piece of light green material, framing the headboard of the bed.

He went home to change clothing; they worked scrubbing a while and unloading boxes a while. She was on her knees cleaning out from under the sink and he was painting the ceiling. He heard a rumble. “What was that?”

Winter Season