The Story of Isabella

Isabella Long was different.
Isabella had always had something magical about her. Even when she was a baby, there was something that made her different from the others. Maybe it was the way she came straight out of the womb smiling and cooing or the way she cocked her little head just so and blinked her huge emerald-green eyes.
And in elementary school Isabella didn't chase the boys around and try to plant kisses on their foreheads during recess. She preferred to sit in the shade of a large tree and read a thick book that was almost as big as her and whenever anybody asked her if she wanted to play she cocked her head just so and battered her huge eyes.
"Not today," She'd sigh in that enchanting voice and go back to her book.
And she stayed that way, preferring to read and write dazzling poetry while her classmates grew up and eventually, in that small town in Oklahoma, married each other.
"Oh, Isabella," her mother would sigh as she grew old and frail, "When are you going to get married? You're such a pretty girl."
Isabella would just cock her head and blink her eyes and reply, "Not today," in that same breathless voice she'd had her whole life.
Eventually, Isabella's mother died and there was a huge funeral with lots of bright tulips and long-stemmed roses. All the ladies wore fashionable dresses with pretty hats and cried as they saw the coffin.
"Goodbye, Mother," Isabella had said. "I'll miss you dearly." Which only made the sobbing ladies cry even more.
After the funeral, Isabella stayed in her mother's house, sitting at the window in an old rocking chair and watching the street. Years passed and Isabella grew older, still sitting and rocking.
And only a year ago, a man in a fancy suit with his white hair slicked back barged into the house. "Isabella Long?" He called, "Isabella Long? Your house has been sold. I'm sorry." He walked into the room with the rocking chair and took a startled step back.
Isabella turned to him, cocked her wrinkled face just so and blinked those still huge, green eyes. "Not today." She breathed and then died.