Smiles and Life's Curves (another dang Short Story)

 Location: Heart of Haynesville RV Park; Mansfield, Louisiana

I just posted the first part of the memories and wow's of the trip and still working on part 2. It's strange though, I find myself typing up thoughts and stories as they pop in my head. There does't seem to be any rhyme or reason to when or where they come from. The one I'm about to post came to me as I was waking up the other morning. After I turned my laptop on, I typed it up in about 30 minutes and 2 cups of coffee. 

Oh well, this blog and my facebook account is a good place to put these stories/thoughts/ramblings down for the grandkids to see in the future. 

Here we go:

Smiles and Life’s Curves

         It was late evening and he sat in the diner just as he had every evening for the last several months. His head was down and he was staring into an empty coffee cup trying to figure out his life. How did he get here? Where did his life take such a drastic curve? He knew the answer, but was still in the denial phase. That curve occurred a year ago today. But, that was just the latest curve in his life. To fully understand where he was, he would need to go back farther. Ten years farther back; back to the early days of his freshman year in college. His adult life was just starting and he planned to be a Geologist. Studying rocks and their strange formations had always interested him and he wanted to learn more. Then that curve happened. She smiled at him.

         Of course, the “She” was a girl with long brown hair and deep brown eyes. It was only later on that she corrected me by saying it was auburn color. At that time she could have told me it was purple and I would have agreed with her. I saw her for the first time as she was walking to class. I changed my direction so I could “accidently” intercept her with hopes of meeting her. I miscalculated and missed her by about ten yards before she entered the education building. I couldn’t follow her, not in there, not in the education building. I was going to be a geologist, not a teacher. Little did I know, but that curve I mentioned was still curving. I planned better the next day although waiting around in the same place for several hours may not be considered a plan. In fact, it was probably closer to stalking, but I didn’t care. There she was again, going to that same building. I hurried this time to make sure I was standing on the steps when she arrived. I casually said “Hi”. She stopped, looked at me and said, “Oh, hi” and then smiled. There is always a smile. I guess it is life’s way of signaling that something is going to change and hopefully for the better. Still trying to act cool and hoping she couldn’t hear my heart beating like crazy, I reached into my pocket and brought out a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. I offered it to her and that smile immediately turned into a frown. With her nose turned up and head turning away, she said, “Oh my goodness, how can you eat those things, they taste like dirt?” That threw me for a loop since they were my favorite candy and I had never heard of anyone that didn’t like them. But then she smiled again as I told her “I agree with you” and threw the Reese’s in the trash can. For the rest of our lives together I became a “closet Reese’s eater” and couldn’t enjoy them if she was anywhere close by. She sensed my confusion and said, “I thought we might go to class together. You are an education major aren’t you”? Any guesses as to my answer? Would I strongly stand up for geology and subtly put down education as a lowly major? You bet I didn’t. I couldn’t. Not after she smiled at me. I said, “Of course I am but that I had to go to the Administration Building first”.

         Four years after I changed my major from geology to education, we both graduated with honors with our education degrees. Within a week of graduation we married and accepted jobs at the same school as elementary grade teachers. Life was great. I was a teacher by profession but a “rock hound” by hobby. We talked about the kids we were teaching and the parents we met at “meet the teacher” meetings. As the years passed, we became excellent teachers and one or the other of us routinely won “Teacher of the Year” awards. On our tenth wedding anniversary we decided it was time to expand our own family. She went to the doctor for a check-up to make sure everything was fine. The doctor noticed that she coughed a few times during the visit and asked her about it. She said, she had been coughing like that for a few weeks and she thought maybe she picked up something from one of the kids. The doctor said, “Why don’t we check” and sent her to the X-ray department. After the doctors visit, she called me. Everything is a blur from that moment to now. Something about a spot on her lung, cancer, surgery, chemo, hospital, terminal. At the end, she lay in the hospital bed and we both knew the end was near. She looked at me with those same deep brown eyes, smiled, said “I wish I was leaving you with a child so you won’t feel so alone when I’m gone but we just ran out of time. I love you.” With my “I love you” hanging softly in the air, she peacefully drifted away. As I sat there looking at her and holding her hand, I could feel her leave. I knew my life had just changed but was unsure of how much. I sat there for what seemed like days but was really only minutes before nurses rushed in and escorted me out.

         Rosemarie loudly asked me if I wanted more coffee. I blankly stared at her and asked why she was yelling. She said, “I’ve asked you four times but it was clear you were in a different world”. I apologized and said, “No thanks, just give me a few Reese’s and I’ll check out”. She said, “I’ll check you out as soon as I finish with Nadia”. It was then that I noticed the pretty woman with brown hair and brown eyes paying her bill. As she was about to leave, Rosemarie handed me my Reese’s. Seeing them, the woman turned her nose up and was clearly disgusted. She didn’t say a word and was expressionless as she left the diner. Rosemarie laughed and said, “She sure gave you the cold shoulder”. I agreed and asked if she knew anything about the woman since Rosemarie knew everyone in town.

         Rosemarie started in by saying, “She’s new to town. Only been here less than a year. Poor thing will be raising that baby by herself since her husband died in that accident. I reckon she is still grieving.” I glanced out the window as the woman got in her car and drove away. I looked back at Rosemarie and asked what accident? I really didn’t want to know but it just seemed like the thing to ask. She said she wasn’t sure about the details, but it was an accident where he worked as a Geologist. Curve?

        Life went on and day by day, month by month I slowly recovered from the loss of my wife. I continued teaching because in a way it was like I was continuing the life my wife had wanted for both of us. I never thanked her for choosing my major with her smile, but I should have done so. My students became my surrogate children and I often thought, “My wife was wrong when she said she didn’t leave me a child before she left. She left me hundreds”.

         About six years later I was in class preparing for “meet the teacher” meetings that evening. It was near the end of the day and I was tired. As a present to the children for their good behavior, I walked around and gave each of them a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. As I sat down at my desk, Millie approached me and handed me the Reese’s. Millie looked at me with those deep brown eyes and said, “Thank you for the candy, but my Mama says these taste like dirt”. I was blown away and immediately transported back in time to meeting my wife as well as seeing that pregnant woman. They were the only two people that I had ever known that didn’t like Reese’s. I asked Millie if her parents were coming to “meet the teacher” night. She said, “yes, Mama is coming but I don’t have a Dad”.

          The last parent to enter my room that evening was a brown haired woman with dark brown eyes. Although it had been six years, I knew right away it was the pregnant woman from the diner. As she approached me, I said, “You have very pretty auburn hair”. She touched her hair and smiled. And you know what happens when women smile, curves happen.

Darrell Goza

September 22, 2024  

Ya'll take care of each other. Maybe I'll Cya down the road.