Posting for this weekend

ESCAPE WITH CHOCOLATE

When she looked up from the rolltop desk where she sat writing yet another thank you note, she saw that the rain had finally stopped. Maybe we will get some sun today after all, Sally thought. Bending her head parallel to the smooth surface of the desk again, she wrote four more notes but could not write anymore because of the noise in the kitchen.

She entered the kitchen to see her daughter-in-law, Ellen, perched on a stool by the telephone, crying into a black lace shawl she'd bought for the occasion. Hearing her mother-in-law enter, Ellen looked up with disdain. Roger, Ellen's husband, who'd been left practically everything in the will, laid a comforting arm on Ellen's shoulder as he said, "Really, mother, I can't believe you're wearing that dress today."

Sally lifted her chin and replied, "For your information, this was your father's favorite dress and I wear it for him today, not anyone else." Then she went to the refrigerator for a frozen Hershey bar with almonds. Unwrapping it hastily and taking a crunchy bite, she said with her mouth full, "Your dad loved purple flowers." (The truth was that the dress was now one of the only pieces of clothing she owned, and her late husband didn't have any idea what her wardrobe consisted of, much less did he have a favorite. But her children never did know much about their relationship, so the lie was safe.) This morning she'd packed all the clothing Frank ever bought her - all the housedresses, especially that blue and brown one - into a grocery sack for the Goodwill. She moved her favorites - the yellow, purple and fuschia dresses that Frank had refused to let her wear after she'd had the babies - to the front of the closet again. She also threw away all but one pair of shoes - the yellow, purple and fuschia ones with the gold heels - for going to town. Otherwise she'd go barefoot.

Ellen, though she looked as if she might throw up on the linoleum, defended her mother-in-law, as she had for the past two days. "Oh, leave her alone, Roger. Sally can wear anything she darn well wants to."

With a nod to Ellen, Sally took another large defiant bite of her candy bar, and walked out to the front porch. She smiled as she heard Roger sigh in the kitchen.

She leaned on the porch railing, remembering the day she'd convinced Frank to move out to the "hills," as he called the area. It had taken some work even to get him out to see the house, because he said the dusty gravel road would scratch his car's paint.

Her favorite part of the house, the front porch, looked east over a lush, rolling countryside, and seeing it you'd hardly know there was a highway less than two miles west. The green, gentle slopes stretching almost to the horizon reminded her of England, especially in the spring when the wildflowers bloomed. The rest of the time, there were just weeds. It was so glorious to see the sunrise every morning...each day it was different; sometimes orange, sometimes red, some days it rose faster than others. But it was there every day, ready to be kind to Sally, comforting, telling her it would return for another secret rendezvous tomorrow. Even when an early translucent fog obscured her view of the horizon she sensed its sympathy. It calmed her, preparing her for the long day ahead. Frank never watched the sunrise with her.

She looked over the porch railing at the lawn, which came right up against the porch. He'd always insisted on that. Now she mapped out in her head a walking garden with flowering bushes and fruit trees. Maybe she'd even call that landscaping service to put in stone paths and hybrid roses.

Finished with her candy bar, she wadded up the foil and paper and played with the stiff ball, tossing it from palm to palm. After everyone left tomorrow she'd plant tulips and pansies by the front steps, and paint the mailbox orange, while wearing her yellow striped dress. Nodding to herself and smiling, she could feel the warmth of the early afternoon sun, which had finally come out from behind the clouds. Yes, definitely the yellow dress for gardening.