The Bell

The Bell

I heard a bell. I think? As I looked around there didn’t seem to be anyone around that could have rang one, and I was in the woods of the park, no buildings near enough to hear a bell from.

Shaking my head I turned again to my walk and my cup of coffee. I needed this time alone. That thought almost made me laugh. I’m always alone! It just different when there are people all over the place. I work in a pretty popular store so I am around people all day, co-workers, customers, everybody has questions, or things to talk about. But it’s different than having people in your life who know your life.

I’d lost my husband a year before. I have siblings, but they live far away, and are younger, tied up in families of their own. Frank and I were always busy with work and traveling, we rarely saw them more than once or twice a year. It never occurred to me that that was a mistake. I apparently assumed Frank and I would be together for eternity. Perhaps we will, after I follow him up, but in the meantime I was suddenly feeling very alone.

The bell! I heard it again! This time, knowing it was close, I started looking around, and there she was. A small black cat, with a collar, with a bell on it. She looked ragged, like she’d been here alone for a long time, skinny, dirty. As I looked down at her, she looked up at me, then walked right over as if saying, “Can you help me?” She touched my heart.

We’ve been together for three years. I still miss Frank everyday, but now I have a companion who helps me wait. And I couldn’t love her more.