Life and Random Thinking

Sophie stepped out of her car and into the light as the cyclist approached, she was striking to see with her military posture, flawless skin and her face and lips just slightly damp from the light misty rain.

The cyclist approached steadily, and his right hand reached for the brake as he saw Sophie standing close to his path. Satisfied it was safe to proceed he started past her silent figure, but then shuddered to a stop when he applied his wet brakes. Twisting his head back at her, he then walked his bike toward her.

Sophie watched him stand up his bike, take off his helmet and run his fingers through his flattened bike-head hair. Luke grinned at her, and his eyes shone.

Standing there along a bike path, in the light rain they looked at each other. Sophie trying to piece what her mother Stella had told her with…

Sophie was stunned. She was returned from deployment on a submarine for six months, her heart filled with stories to share with her Mom, Stella. But all that waited for her was silent walls, and not the homecoming she expected.

Sophie’s Mom Stella was gone, holding her tongue she had said nothing to Sophie about her terminal diagnosis fearing holding Sophie back from the most exciting opportunity in her naval career.

Sophie stood silent, unmoving in her apartment except for the racking of her lungs as she tried to breath from the tears. “Mom, I would not have gone, I would have been there, I love you, I need you” and her tears ran, and her heart broke with shock and it felt like she was knifed in the heart. The wound cut deep.

Sophie sat on the floor until the darkness forced her to her feet to turn on a light.

Luke aka Skywalker felt content, and wet. The rain, cold and soft, ran down his face and over his chilled face. Not exactly a grin, and not exactly a smile was on his face as he rode his bike along the paved path.

The path was cracked, with moss in the cracks and chunks missing here and there. Luke was soaking up the silence in the off-roadway path and nodded his head at the dog walkers and cyclists he passed.

The laugh lines around his eyes condensed as he realized that this was meditation for him. The misty rain and the cracked pathway seemed perfect to him and to his head space.

Crickets! He skidded to a stop, and rested his rear, which was sore from the bike seat. The crickets music to his ears as dusk approached. The crickets song clear and in harmony to him. The cool air…

To read Call Me Skywalker from the beginning click HERE

Stella died a month ago.  Luke’s mind still saw her face easily, picturing her laughing and singing along with the Beatles.  He half smiled, and his eyes twinkled remembering how she always seemed to be singing a song or pieces of a song during the day.

Stella loved to infect him with a melody of song so after he sat with her, laughed with her, the rest of his day had these earworms of pop music popping up.

Luke chuckled, one week she kept singing “Bennie and the Jets” and he walked around singing Bennie, Bennie, Bennie and the Jets all week. He smiled but there was a tear in his eye.

Luke was doing better now.  After the funeral he had felt dazed, his face felt numb and it almost seemed like he had his face pressed against a…