5.13.2008

The Last Visitor

Inhale
Gospel music plays in the background.
- speak Lord, speak to me, I said speak to me -

She sits by the window, warming her tired shoulders in the setting summer sun. Her hands pick at the lint balls in the knit blanket lying across her legs. The worn edges tickle her ankles as she shifts in the recliner for comfort. The front window of the house has become her best friend. The children are grown, husband gone on so now loneliness sets in. The pane of glass displays moving images in the background of her reflection. She enjoys the movie with a new found happiness. We find her smiling with the happy times and crying with the sad times along with the characters of her personal play. Soon, the old woman realizes that she is watching her own life flash before her eyes. Those same eyes fill with emotion and release water drops down her cheek.
She is not sad but instead righteous. She yearns to be with her Father for all of eternity. Tired now, she slowly walks to the bedroom and lies on the bed fitted with crisp white sheets.
In the front room, the movie reel continues on without an audience until the final frame fades to black in the warm summer night.
The flickering sounds wake the angel of death. He is the last visitor to this old woman and comes bearing gifts, a package containing Nana's last breath
Exhale.