THE LAST WALK

“Just a sweet story of a really great love that spans the distance of time…”

By ~Andre’ Hartslief TRANQUILPEN

THE PIXIE FACE BEHIND the JACK-O- STACK

He was 7 and she was 6 and

full of tricks and so alive, that summer’s day, at the Jack-o-lantern stack, Halloween was still quite new to him and her.

Choosing the biggest Jack was fun, when

all of a sudden, blinded by the noonday sun,

cat got a hold of my tongue,

A freckled face peeped out, from the Jack-o’s roundabout. “Hello” she sighed, gorgeous blue eyes flashing in the

sun.

Uhh!,umm,… popped out of my bone dry throat, filling her with glee. I wanted to flee, but couldn’t budge, for, in her hand, she held my heart, tight, shut.

my mother’s call, we must depart, but will I ever see that sweet pixie face, or will she vanish, without a trace?

PERHAPS I’LL SEE HER ON THE BUS

Monday morn, I’m up at dawn, perhaps I’m lucky, and she’s on the bus. Mum awakes, asking what’s the fuss,

Uh, um, is all I croak… “What’s wrong son, cat got your tongue?” I rush through breakfast, not to be last, getting into the bus.

Down the aisle I edge, is the pixie with my heart, sitting somewhere close? or is she forever lost?

I saunter into class, has this all been a farce? or will I find her in the class?

Oceans of faces, but no traces, where can she be, It is all I can bear? does she even care?

A knock on the classroom door, glancing at the floor. there she is…No stammering! please, “Hello!” she says, My “Hello”, slips out, only just.

The pretty red bow, reflecting the color

of her cheeks, and mine too, I guess.

OUR SECRET TREE

Days of joy, and glee, we spend, hiding in

our secret tree. Perhaps one day, we can fly up there in the sky, just her and I

“To our very own sunny Island where we can lie, under the sky, looking at each other, just you and I”, Said she.”That would sure be neat,” I replied.

One time we were counting coins, for our trip one day, we were in our teens. She was still wearing jeans, the one girl of my dreams, It was the same for her it seems, I was the hero, of her dreams.

Another time, it was in her defense, I knocked down Paddy Dense, and soared up higher than an eagle when she kissed me on the cheek, “Thank you my, love,” she said, “he needed that great shove.”

GRADUATION AND DAD PASSES

All too soon t’ was graduation time, up our secret tree we climbed, huddled close together we sat. She was off to teaching college, I was off to work,

Dad had passed, two summers ago, leaving dear Mum to run the show. It was no easy task, holding down three jobs, yet never did she sigh one time, save for some silent cry one night, as she,

fell down exhausted upon the floor. She was ill, I could tell, “Mum”, the blood!” I said, when I saw the red, on the pillow on her bed.

I swore I would end, her toiling every day. And nothing she could say would make me stay in college, as she lay there pale and full of care, for me and my young sis.

I MARRY MY FAIRY PRINCESS

The work was fine and soon Mum was on the mend. My wages were enough to keep us running tough, and even a bit left over, to write my dearest love.

Sis went off to nursing school, learn how best to care, it was no dare, since her dolls were patients, always!

Hands sweating, heart racing, while at the station I was waiting for my love. My little freckled pixie was there, with flaxen hair, I choked, what a handsome maid she was, as Into my embrace she rushed, saying: “Hello my dearest love”, while I just sighed. Soon for us, the bells did ring, it was no ordinary thing, for down the aisle she came, a fairy

princess still, all decked out in gossamer

white and finest lace.

Silence fell, among our friends, as along the

aisle she walked, pretty maidens all attending.

She took my breath away. Mum passed on, to join her best mate: “He’s waiting for me at the gate.” over there he stands, she said, just beyond the light.

A gentle squeeze of my hand, and in a soft sigh, she left. Mere months after, sis had joined her new handsome beau in marriage, they had a horse-drawn carriage when off on honeymoon they went.

Our Home next to the magic tree was brightly painted and never tainted with regrets. Our sunny Island voyage was delayed when to the doctor, we rushed one night. Perhaps for us the pitter patter of tiny feet, quite soon, we felt…

A bleak and darkest moment, when Doc. said: “Tis not to be my boy.” The baby’s room, in rainbow colors, we renamed, “Our Room of Dreams.” Hours on end, we would recall the wondrous adventures we had shared, my love and I.

THE LAST WALK

A school field trip came up one day, a train trip to the ocean, a hundred miles away. Now old and gray, this was it; we had to go along, the school had planned it all.

Here we were, with twenty children, yet, none of them, our very own, finally on our first holiday!. Most of us had never seen the Sea, could you believe? Hot Dogs and Cool-aid, sitting on the beach, with twenty happy kids,

Soon it was time to leave, but not before we had our last walk by the sea. Back home, a lingering cough, a visit to the Doc. The big “C” had arrived, Later that week she wrote, a tiny precious note,

“Have no regrets, my sweet and dearest boy from the Jack-o-stack, who stole my heart on that happy summer’s day so long ago.”

Hush, no more tears my love, our love was sealed forevermore, whereupon that magic isle, we’ll walk hand in hand, for eternity”.

Dedicated to my best friend Daleen, my wife.

Copyright © 2014 created by Andre’ Hartslief (Tranquilpen)

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