vignette ~ A Town

“You are the most barbaric mother in my class!” she screamed as she slammed the door behind her and ran across the back yard. She was so angry that she started crying, and that made her even angrier. “Bitch,” she muttered as she ran out from the alley and onto the sidewalk.

“Whaaaat,” the little old lady said slowly in her creaky voice as the girl rushed by. But the girl didn’t answer her and the little old lady carefully continued on, thinking She looked like she was having a bad day, the poor thing. Probably a fight with her boyfriend. She placed her cane precisely and thought about the beautiful autumn day. The little old woman was glad she had her health so she could spend time walking outside, and thought about her friend who had broken her hip eight months ago and would probably never leave the nursing home into which they’d placed her. She cautiously stepped off the curb, the last street she crossed before she returned to her house. Her mind on things of long ago, she never saw the car that hit her doing 50 in the 25 mph zone.

He slammed on his brakes, but it was too late. “Oh god, ohmygod, ohmygod.” He got out of the car, shaking, and went around to where the little old woman was lying crumpled on the street. Shit! I was speeding! That little old lady isn’t moving. He bent down and gently touched her, but her eyes were closed. He tried to feel for her pulse, but her wrist was so small and dainty, and he felt weird touching her. He figured she was dead so he straightened her jacket, fetched her purse from where it had landed, and sat down on the curb holding her hand. My life is over. I’m done for now. Dammit! If I’d just seen her...

It was a middle-aged policeman who pulled up to the accident. Well, at least the kid stopped and stayed with her. He got out of the cruiser and walked over to examine the woman. “Hey son, what happened?” He could tell the kid was just a high schooler and knew he had messed things up for himself real good. The kid had been crying a bit, but that wasn’t unusual in an accident like this. And it was pretty obvious the old woman was dead. That was too bad. He’d seen her at church and knew she’d lived here a long time.

The ambulance drove the little old lady to the town’s mortuary. The funeral director indicated where to place the body and spoke briefly to the driver before going back inside to close things up for the evening. He’d gotten a call from his wife, earlier, saying their daughter had stormed out of the house again. Then when he’d gotten the fatality call, he worried it might have been her who was hit. He felt bad that he’d been relieved to find out it had been this sweet old woman who’d been killed instead of his daughter. He knew the woman lived just a block from his house and he’d seen her around town quite a bit. “God bless her,” he said as he locked up for the night.