Sudden Moves, Part 2





Taking a deep breath, Bliss managed to gather herself and dispel the heartache soaked memory from her mind as best she could. It was so long ago. A decade long marriage, a stint in rehab and a two year battle with cancer ago....she had long since picked up the broken pieces.....




Bliss had stuffed the memories of her past lover deep in the recesses of her brain. In a place so dark and locked away--she'd almost forgotten him.

She delicately picked the toppings off the slice of pizza and put the crust aside. It seemed silly to order a slice of pizza and eat only the toppings but this was the way it was for her now. Bliss hated the feeling of being full and enjoyed the slight constant cravings. It kept her mind clear.
Ordering the glass of wine was an old survival reflex but she left the glass full and her stomach empty and asked the young waitress for the check.

Bliss continued running her fingers over the glossy pages of the book filled with nostalgic inns and scenery knowing a number of these pages with emotional intimacy. A lifetime within a lifetime.
Today she was happy that the day ahead had no other obligations than to write.....her heart felt bittersweet. Paying the check, Bliss stood up and put her sweater back on her thin frame, gathered her pile of books and headed out the restaurant's doors for her mile walk home.
Once again, the cool Autumn air filling her nostrils like a sunny tonic. Yes, this small town suited her just fine. For now, it would have to. The earlier feeling of shameless happiness replaced now by a vague sense of longing. So vague, she'd almost forgotten it was there.

Making her way down the narrow sidewalks of Main St with the Barton river running parallel to the road, Bliss let the mid-October sunshine caress her shoulders and warm the slowly creeping chill in her bones. Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed Floyd from the bagel shop pulling up alongside her in his Chevy.

" Hey kid, ya need a ride?" he asked in his smoker's gravelly timbre. Bliss startled a bit, told him she only lived a few more doors down, but thank you anyway. She watched as Floyd drove away and out of sight in his beat-up truck. He had to be fifty at least. A beat-up guy in a beat-up truck working as a breakfast cook in a bagel shop, Bliss thought to herself with a pang of loneliness. She wondered where she would be at nearly fifty.

Overhead, the distant rumble of a commercial jet echoed in the air, it's wispy contrails leaving a path on the blue sky. Almost home, Bliss looked up and caught the silver glint of the plane way high up, on it's way to somewhere...



CJ Ellis

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