Image by Jeffrey Beall on Flickr
"That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it." Clara was calm, resolute as she said this. Cool as ice.
But as she walked away, doubt began to creep in.
She pushed it aside in the same way she swept old receipts and unopened mail into the "to-be-dealt-with-later" bin.
Walking down her sidewalk, she passed John Summers mowing his lawn. How could he still be at it, three hours later—in the middle of a heatwave, no less?
Then she realized that it was, in fact, yesterday that she passed him, just as she had the day before that and the day before that. The days were starting to blur together.
She thought of a future where, 30 years from now, she would still be walking down this same sidewalk, passing John Summers mowing his lawn and Debra Willocks watering her flowers, in her thong, no less, showing the world (or rather, all 1,300 residents of Kentville) that she "still had it."
Clara pushed this thought aside too, into the to-be-dealt-with-later bin.
She nearly tripped. Yes, this was that spot in the sidewalk where the big crack was. The whole sidewalk was pretty hazardous, really, cracks and stickerburs popping up all over the place, but this spot in particular always tripped her up, no pun intended.
A new urgency filled her. This she could not push aside. It shot up into her brain, strangling her lungs.
She began walking more rapidly, nearly jogging. Though her home was just down the street, she was already drenched in sweat by the time she arrived.
Seymour, her Scottish terrier, jumped on her leg, clawing at her. He'd played out this scenario with her hundreds of times before.
"One moment," she told him.
He looked at her, puzzled. This was a new twist.
She took a second to catch her breath, then dialed the number. Without waiting for a greeting, she launched into her statement.
"I've changed my mind," she said.
All she got in return was a dial tone. Four beeps.
The number was disconnected.
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