Eleanor Rigby
Song Title Fiction inspired by The Beatles song titles
The coin tossed into her cup made a clang, and Eleanor looked up. The man who tossed the coin was already walking away, but he left a two dollar coin with a five-dollar bill and Eleanor felt the pang of gratitude ~though she really hated gratitude.
She adjusted her sitting. She was sitting on the hard, cement pavement, under a footbridge, her back against one of the pillars coming down from it. She had her worn-out bag, plus her things filling a garbage bag on her side, her paper cup for the coins, and the rectangular cardboard leaning against the cup, saying, Hungry — anything helps! Damn Ottawa cold was crawling under the worn-out blanket tightly wrapped around her body, and she had no way of preventing it.
A family of four walked by her, the kids were making a ruckus as the parents were laughing. Once more, Eleanor wondered how it would feel to have someone in this life with whom she could share warmth, conversation, food, and maybe even love. How it would feel not to be alone. She wouldn’t know. She was forty-something and couldn’t remember a time she wasn’t lonely.
A high-pitched yelling pulled Eleanor back from her thoughts.
“Miss Rigby, Miss Rigby!”
