Going Back Home

Kelly goes into the convenience store while I wait in the car. I turn off the radio and close my eyes.

Yes, she's still here. I can see her quite clearly in my mind. Slightly chubby, dishwater blonde--pixie haircut...a quiet child with a slightly crooked smile. And there's her puppy, Honey. She's running about the yard with the little blonde cock-a-poo... obviously that child and dog are the very best of friends. In my mind it's a beautiful summer day, and the pasture across the road from where I sit is dotted with dandelions and spotted holstein milk-cows. The child and dog cross the road, slip under the barbed-wire fence, and race to the top of the pasture's big hill. When they reach the top, they throw themselves upon the grass and lie amid the dandelions...content just to lie there watching clouds roll by.

Now the car door opens and Kelly tosses a Butterfingers candy bar into my lap. It startles me. The little girl and her doggy disappear and once again I am sitting the the AM/PM parking lot. But this place wasn't always a parking lot. There was once a cottage in this very spot. A family lived here. A little girl and her mama and daddy...with her puppy Honey and a kitten called Tuffy. There was a garden plot out there in the back, a clothesline and a blackberry patch.

This parking lot was once my home.

Someone once said you can't go home; I disagree. I go there often...and it hasn't changed a bit!

 Blessings to you, little girl with your puppy. Lie there on the hill and dream. Your future is bright. This I know.