I didn't know what she meant, but it was the first thing she told me, and the last thing I'll ever forget. Jenna was a pale silvery light that somehow still shone like a dozen candles in the dark. It was early evening and I was tucking my third last cigarette this week between my lips when I came across her.
It was across the street from the office, in a park I'd often walk through and pray for random branches to fall on my head. It was my angry place, where I'd fertilize the bushes and the grass with my angry soles and puffs of deadly air. Say what you will about my mood, though, in a solid 15 minutes, I'd be eager to get back to my desk every time. As simple and tiny as that park was, it gave me a second breath every. Single. Time...it gave me hope.
And this time, it gave me her. She was sitting in the lap of a marble giant, ignoring the damp from the misting fountains. She looked like marble herself - an early gray, a simple dress and slip-ons, skin almost ashen from the cold. Not even her eyes had a color - only a shining silver that knocked the cig right out of my mouth. She shivered. My coat was off my shoulders before I could even think to ask myself why I cared.
"I can't handle your kindness today." She said that and her gentle whisper halted me. She had all the presence of a stone wall, even as soft as her eyes were. "When you feel empty enough, even the lightest touch can start a fire. Are you ready for that kind of trouble?"
I answered by draping my coat over her. She kissed my cheek, leaned into me. She was freezing, but I felt like I could burn to ash right there.
"Suit yourself...but don't say I didn't warn you." She smiled up at me, raised her fingers to brush my face.
Nowadays, I almost wish I'd listened.
No comments:
Post a Comment