NaNoWriMo Day 10- The Shoes of Baltimore

“Samantha, how did this happen? I worked so hard for you! I worked so hard for the kids! Yes, I know you tried to tactfully drop hints that I needed to lose weight. You bought the family gym memberships. Encouraged me to go before or after work. Threw away all the junk food and only had salads in the house. But what was I to do? If I woke up to get to work at 5 a.m., and didn’t leave until 10:30 p.m., where was I supposed to fit exercising into that schedule? How was I supposed to eat healthy and plan out my meals when I might not even have a chance to eat anything until 7 or 8 at night? You knew my responsibilities before we met, my dear. You knew the hectic schedule I had. But it was true that we didn’t expect me to just be a managing editor for so long. We always thought I would branch off and do something else or eventually get promoted to run the whole place. But I just got stuck, and there was no room for advancement. And before I knew it, I was 45. You didn’t stick around that long, Samantha. But I just got stuck. Oh my darling. I can change! I can make things better! Just give me a chance! Just let me show you that things can get better between us! I know we’ve had our issues, but we can work through them my rose! We can go back, like when we were young and care free. Remember the trip to Paris? How we stood looking at the Eiffel Tower, with our whole lives ahead of us? We could have done anything! We had the world in our hands that night. Oh my great treasure. Why did we ever leave each other? I can’t even recall. What was it? Oh, how it slips my mind. Yes darling. I know I wasn’t perfect. I won’t sit her and try and knock you down a peg. It would be silly if you didn’t have flaws. Everyone has something about themselves they could improve. But you were perfect to me. Everything was perfect about you. You hated when I told you that. Perhaps I placed too much pressure on you to be perfect. But that long, raven-black hair, those blue eyes, that smile. You were truly sent from some place not of this earth my darling. And why you were with someone like me, I couldn’t fathom when we first dated. But we had a connection. We had the same values and wanted to avoid the mistake of our parents. We wanted to raise children, guide them, and help them become productive citizens. We accomplished that, didn’t we Samantha? Tommy grew up and became a doctor. Alex is a lawyer. And Rachel owns her own fashion store. Three triumphs my dear. Three triumphs! We have to work this out. We have to figure out what went wrong so we can go back and get ourselves to a place that works again. We’ve had that trial separation, and know I think it’s time we get back together and make things right. I know the kids have grown, but wouldn’t; it be nice to be a family again? Wouldn’t it be nice for us to go and take trips? Spend Christmas all together? Remember the children’s faces in the morning on Christmas day? Remember how Tommy could never sleep because he was so excited? He still can’t fall asleep, even with little ones of his own now! Oh Samantha, the grandchildren. The grandchildren! Wouldn’t it be nice for them to see grandmother and grandpa at the same time? Wouldn’t it just be so special and make so many great memories? My oh my, I still can’t figure out for the life of me why we ever split. We were so good, weren’t we Samantha?”

It was almost as if a virtual wall started to disappear between what was real and what wasn’t for Mr. Powell. He was confused once again, looking around like he had just woken from a strange dream. It was sad to look at his eyes. You could tell that he was there, physically. But mentally, Mr. Powell was struggling to figure out what was going on. He kept slipping between present time and his past. It was early in the morning, so there were only a few people he saw him like this. It didn’t really matter. They just thought he was another homeless person. Two high school students pulled out their phones and posted videos of him on Snapchat.

“Why did we break up? Why did we break up? Why did we break up?”

Then the reality distraction field went back up and it Mr. Powell was transferred back to more than 30 years ago.

“We broke up because of you Alibaster!”

During all of this, Mr. Powell had believed his brother ALibaster and his ex-wife Samantha were the parking meter in front of him.

“Alibaster! You son of a bitch! Alibaster! You bastard! Alibaster! Alibaster! Alibaster!”

Mr. Powell fell to his knees. He started crying, shaking the meter. He was crying so hard that he couldn’t speak. The sobs over powered him. He finally stopped crying after five minutes and was able to speak again. Though, not very clearly.

“Why! Why! Why! Wasn’t I always trying to help you when I could? Wasn’t I always there when you needed it? When you were sent to sleep off your booze to the local jail by your cop friends, who was there to always pick you up in the morning? Who was there to get breakfast with you for you to soak up the booze? Who was there to always listen to you promising that was the last time you were going to drink? Who was that Alibaster Who?! Can’t even speak to me! You are a slime that won’t go away! You are a filth that needs wiped from this earth! You need cleansed, Alibaster. Your soul needs cleansed. But it’s too late for you. It’s too late to fix you. But you somehow manage to get what you want while remain the scum of the earth. You somehow still control the lives of everyone around you and cause chaos wherever you go. Oh Alibaster, tell me… Tell me if it’s true. Are you a god? I never would have though such things before. I mean, you are clearly a man of flesh that I can see and touch and hear. But this power you have. Yes! Yes! That’s it, isn’t it? You do have some sort of powers. Is this all a test? Are you here to test us and see what extremes we will go to for our kin? Is this the great test? Is this my great test? Is it to see how much I can lose and still turn the other cheek? Is this to show how far I can be pushed? How much testing can one man take? Hazaa Alibaster! Hazaa! This was it all a long. I can’t believe I didn’t see it. Yes, you must be a god. You are a combination of excess and chaos. Oh, that’s why you caused destruction. Those are two deadly combinations, I must admit. Well, you are in a sense cursed. Is that correct, Alibaster? To have to live a life filled with excess and chaos, it must be draining. Maybe that’s not the path you would have chosen for yourself. Maybe that’s the path that was forced upon you. This life you live… It’s not to hurt others, is it? It is simply a burden you must carry with you. You simply had to follow the role you born to play. Oh those years Alibaster! Those years of hating you. Those years where I actually hated Samantha. All of the hate. Am I free Alibaster? Am I free? Please tell me I’m free. Please. Pleas Alibaster! Why won’t you speak to me. Oh, is that it? I understand Alibaster. I understand. If you are this god, you will need something from me. Humbly, I don’t have much to give you at this moment. But, what about this? It’s merely a small token, but I hope you understand that this is the best I can do at the present moment.”
Mr. Powell took of his shoes, placing them right in front of the meter.

“Is that good Alibaster? Please tell me that will suffice. Please tell me that’s good enough and we can move on. Maybe there is still hope for me and Samantha. Oh Alibaster! This is a turning point. This was the realization you wanted me to see. This is it, isn’t it? You powerful bastard. I guess it was on me to figure this out, wasn’t it? I can’t believe it took so long.I just wish. I wish. I wish…”
“Mr. Powell, are you doing okay?”

Mr. Powell turned but didn’t see his the attendant from the nursing home. He was still in his dream world daze. It took a couple of seconds before he could recognize there was a person there.

Danielle could tell he recognized her, but he couldn’t quite put a name to the face.

“Hey Mr. Powell, it’s me Danielle. From the senior center?”

She started to see a hint of recognition in his face.

“Oh yes, Danielle, how are you?

“Good Mr. Powell. How are you?”

“Oh fine dear, just fine. I was out to get the paper this morning.”

Mr.Powell looked around. “I can’t say how I got here though, I must have let my mind wander and ended up taking a longer stroll than I intended. “

“Well you know I should be with you Mr. Powell. This is the second time this month you ended up getting a little lost. We’re going to have to get a little stricter with you leaving. But that’s okay, because that means you get to hang out with me. And you know I’m great company.”

Mr. Powell laughed.

“You are dear, you are. Have I ever told you that you remind me of someone I used to know?”

“Yes Mr. Powell. Let’s get your shoes back on and go back.”

Mr. Powell looked at the shoes in front of the parking meter.

“Oh dear,” he said. “How did they get there?”