I saw her strolling, her golden blonde hair picking up the late afternoon light. She had an ice cream cone in one hand, a Chanel purse, the other.
I remember trips to the Met, sated in Renoirs, Lunch of the Boating Party her favorite, descending down those great steps. buying cones from the Mr. Softee man parked at the curb.
She’d get a double cherry dip, while I had mine straight, never failing to drip some on whatever I was wearing making her laugh.
We’d then meander down the Ave., looking in all the windows, picking and choosing what we’d buy if we had that kind of money.
She had alimony from her long time husband who abused her so much, she didn’t even want it, saving it for her young sons their father neglected.
She co-owned a travel agency with two good friends, loving planning trips she had no desire to take. She loved New York so much, said she felt like a fish out of water whenever she’d leave it.
We first met at the dry cleaners when she was picking up one of her beloved raincoats. She liked walking in the rain, happy and content, the air at its sweetest, she’d say, wrapped in a Burberry.
I sent her a card that said…she was so special, that they named a month after her.
When I saw her today, that cherry dip a dead giveaway, I had to rub my eyes and look again remembering, June died of cancer over 20 years ago.
But it was her, I could have sworn it was her, and it did look like rain.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1881)
SB
Susannah, every now and then something happens that makes me believe in reincarnation. Your story gave me shivers. Let’s hope the good do come back.
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Mr too, but nice shivers. She was the loveliest of ladies…kind, funny, chic and fearless. Her husband was a big shot in the music industry and used to bring women home to their house. June, as a young bride, would hide in the closet. I ask you, how anyone could behave so cruelly. But she prevailed just the same. We women, as you know, are strong. Thanks. Have a happy day.
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SB,
When you do this, Holy Jesus wow is all I gotta say.
Well no, that’s not correct. I have more to say. Like, when something pulls at your heart, it delivers a wheelhouse effect in which you give us these words in moving pictures. And this story, so poignant and beautiful. Of friendship and the time and place which remains perched in your memory, like a Renoir hanging in the Met.
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Does it ever happen to you, when you think you see someone you know damn right well no longer lives in this realm? A visitation from afar, if you will. Every once in a while I think I see Hicks in his black jeans and leather jacket who in an instant will fade away like steam. It happens.
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Happens quite a bit actually.
I have witnessed sightings of my first “serious” romance with an older woman that happened all the way back in the ’80s. She passed much too soon years later; a wife and mother, stolen away.
The last time I saw her was at Central Market, downtown. She was wearing her hair down and it brought a smile to my face.
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See, I totally believe that. They visit. “She was wearing her hair down,” I love that.
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I do too. I will hear a voice calling me sometimes when I’m out. It’s always a voice that is no longer here, they’re just calling out my name.
It’s hopeful, to believe in some other place after this one.
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I often wonder. Where does everyone go? Are they together? Is it like a big community? Afterlife musings are in the house as of late.
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I think all that stuff, the things that people held to when they were here, are no longer relevant. I imagine it’s a state of being that transcends everything.
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Let’s hope. There’s a passage in The Killer Angels when Armistead is dying at the end, that always gives me pause along with a few chills. Michael Sharra died not long after that never knowing he won the Pulitzer for his historical novel, but it’s so eerily beautiful, his description, going over that rainbow, it was like he knew.
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Once upon a time in another life, I used to wonder if we were privy to all of life’s enduring mysteries once we passed. Like, what other life does roam beneath the sea, and were most of those Elvis sightings for real and who killed Kennedy.
And then it hit me, you’re no longer of this realm. And so the answers to the questions will necessarily be much different ones.
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I see we both like the word realm…a kingdom, a sphere, a land faraway. 🙂
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Shocker, right? Us liking the same word . . .
A land far away and yet, right here. The otherwise not nearly as good as it could have been movie “Grand Canyon” touched on the angels among us. One scene in particular sums up the memory of that flick for me. Kevin Klein’s character is recalling a story about how he stepped off a curb and was pulled back by a woman wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball cap. And it made him wonder if she was real, or of a different realm.
I believe they walk among us.
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I loved that movie. Remember the baby they find in the bushes? I’m a big Kevin Kline fan. Steve Martin was great in that too sportin’ a full beard. Yeah, what happened to Larry Kasdan. Talk bout the Big Chill. Did you know, Kevin Costner was cast as their friend who dies, but then LK decided, to not have you see his character. But then he put him in Silverado so, the rest is history. Show biz.
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I think there are scenes from that movie that stick to the cosmic ribs. I’m not sure why I felt as if something was missing. Maybe I’ve got to go back and watch it again. I was a stickler of a critic back in the day, perhaps time has changed my critical eye.
Steve Martin living large at Lakers games, LOL. I remember him.
You would know about the biz, Ms Thin Girl. 😉
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Tales…Fairy tales if you will.
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Says the cheeky cat woman.
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Cheek to Cheek 🙂
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Oh chica . . .
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TANGO!!!
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Synonym being poetry.
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I just remember that from a movie. Someone at a dance hall would scream it, and all these sexy enchiladas in tight sequined dresses with partners that looked like bullfighters would jump up and TANGO LIKE REINCARNATED SNAKES. HMM
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Sexy enchiladas. I love that. Imma use that one, I gotta!
TANGO!
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Tis all Yours Mr. Imma. 🙂
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Much obliged, Ms Cheeky Chica.
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Here’s the scene.
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🙂
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Hmmmmm …. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVSRm80WzZk
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Thanks Frank. 🙏
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They say everyone has a Doppelgänger somewhere. But what do they know?
Spooky, just the same.
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Spooky, now there’s a good word. 🙂
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Oh, Susannah. That was beautifully written! I swear they say we each have our doppelganger out there, but I’m convinced, in this case, it is way more than that.
And my heart stopped beating the other day. I swore I saw Mick in a crowd.
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I’ll bet he was checkin’ up on you. Funny, Mick from Britain also used the word, doppelganger, brother to apparition. Isn’t language grand…:)
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I’ll bet he was.
That is funny. Not only that his name is Mick but that he used the same word.
Language is more than grand!
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Yes ma’am, it is. That was a little wink from the ether. 🙂
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She just came back for a quick moment for an ice cream cone and to say hello to you. This is beautiful writing, Susannah. Great job. 🙂
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Thanks for reading it.
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Interesting,I was standing in the checkout line at my Cracker Barrel and first heard a voice I had not heard in years. I looked up to see a lot of curly grey hair and full beard, so assumed that was all there was to it- the voice. Then, as he left, he spoke once more to the cashier and looked at me. I could swear the eyes and mouth were his – yes, he died years ago also.
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Bty, that was yesterday 5/20/2019
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I so get that. Really. You had a visit from one of your Kindred Spirits, I’d say.
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Never really thought of it quite that way! So great!
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