The Flowering Arch

DESCRIPTION:
Working for a newspaper in a small southern town to be near his children and grandchildren, a man with grey in his hair, makes his twice weekly slow walk to the local market. He pauses to rest at a vacant lot behind an old abandoned church where a stone bench gives him a place to pause. As he turns the corner around the church, a vision meets his eyes and he shakes his head, thinking he must be dreaming. He is not. Dressed all in white, a long flowing dress, looking like a Princess of yore, she is waiting, waiting just for him. Why? Why him? Who is she? What does she want? She takes his breath away when she tells him. The man is never given a name, he is in his late 40’s, grey in his temples tall and thin, proud, erect and stubborn, but kind and gentle.

EXCERPT:
“Uh, have you kissed a lot of girls and had it go all crazy like that before?”

I smiled but didn’t look at her. “Not many. I think it is not that intense with most people but I really don’t know.”

“God. I am only now breathing about normal and I was tingling all over and I can still feel where you touched me.”

“I’m sorry. I should not have touched you that way.”

“Oh! But I wanted you too! I had no idea what was happening but I didn’t want it to stop, I just wanted more and more and …oh…oh, my!”

She turned to me and pulled my head around. “Did you feel that way too? Like you didn’t want to stop but wanted more and more? Oh!”

I knew she saw the color rise to my face. I tried to turn away but she kept her hand there.

She blushed then and turned away. “I knew you weren’t just pretending to kiss me when it got crazy; I knew you were feeling it too. I, uh, ah, I felt you hard against my leg and for a moment I had no idea…”

“Sorry.”

She stayed silent and quiet. Not moving but breathing a little more deeply. I tried not to look at her.

“What if we hadn’t stopped?”

Her voice was barely a whisper and I didn’t know what, if anything, I wanted to say. “Worst case I guess, I go to jail for corrupting a minor and you get pregnant.”
I heard her sharp intake of breath and I could hear in her voice when she spoke, a regained self confidence.

“I am not as young as I look today or you think I am and my mother for some reason, I think she didn’t know what I might do, had me on contraceptive pills years ago. So there!”

I turned and smiled at her and confirmed by the look on her face that she was pretty much back in control of her thoughts and her quick, oh, so quick, mind. I saw a look and then she turned and looked all around, just as I had before I put my hands around her waist. And then she looked back at me and I saw another look.

“Don’t even tell me what you are thinking.”

“No one ever comes back here. You are the only person in years I have seen here, no one can see us.” She paused and I could feel her mind working. “If I wanted to and you wanted to, what would be wrong about that?”

I gave her a hard look, deep into her eyes and watched as she tried to read the look. I wanted to watch her reaction. “Take your panties off.”

I had to chuckle as her mouth and eyes opened wide and she gasped at my words. Her face turned pink then white then dark red. “I am teasing you. I wanted to see the look on your face. You didn’t disappoint me.”

Then she glared at me. “You think I won’t?”