Clouds and Coffee | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Clouds and Coffee | Previous Challenge Entry
By Mary Nellum
04/11/05
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She took my hand and led me to the porch steps. "Sit here, ok?", she said excitedly. "I think I've figured out how to explain this to you!"

So I sat and listened as she ran back into the house. It only took a minute, and she plopped down on the step beside me and requested that I hold out my hands.

"Ok, now remember how we were talking about the clouds? Here." and she poured a mound of cotton balls into my cupped hands. I rolled them around and around, soaking in the softness and weightlessness of them, imagining.

I could feel her staring at me. I could feel the hope she had for me, wanting so badly for me to understand. I thought back to the day we met, just a month ago. I had been waiting in line at the deli, but people kept cutting in front of me. I could feel someone concentrating on me, and it was making me very uncomfortable. I decided to wait and come back later when there weren't so many people around. Just as I turned to leave, a voice rang out.

"How can you all treat her this way? Don't you have any compassion?", she said to the crowd as she moved to the front of the line and gently touched my arm. I caught the scent of her perfume as she spoke. "Here," she said softly, "it's your turn." and she helped me to the counter. Then she turned and went back to her spot in the line.

When I had gotten the meat from the counter, I went over to one of the tables in the corner and sat. I was used to taking care of myself. I'd never had anyone stand up for me in public before and I was intrigued. So I waited and listened. When I heard her tell the counterman 'thank you', I stood up and headed towards her.

"Hi." I said, and listened carefully to her breathing. Reaching out like this had always been hard for me, and I was scared.

She was quiet for a moment, and then said, "I'm glad you came over. I saw you sitting at the table and hoped that you were waiting on me."

We both smiled then, and the nervousness eased. "Would you like to have a cup of coffee?" we blurted out at the same time and it made us laugh. Tucking her arm through mine, we went back to the table I had just left and spent the next couple of hours there, talking and laughing and sharing. I had never met anyone like her, so open and willing to be vulnerable.

I turned to her with my hands still full of the cotton balls and smiled. She threw her arms around me and hugged me. I expected to hear laughter, but there was no sound from her. I let the clouds spill from my hands as I touched her face, and the rain mingled with her tears.

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