Again, out of order. I started this back in October...... just never posted it. Not sure why I waited.
I arrived home Sunday after almost 19 days away from home. A period of solitary banishment required by my job. On occasions I find I experience "love withdrawal" symptoms. My wife and I proceeded to run an errand or two, and then (without passing GO) headed direct to the place where my Granddaughter resides with her Mom and Step Dad. As it was dinner time we went straight to a restaurant to have dinner. It was there I saw them (at first it was just an awareness of "her" sitting at the corner table next to the buffet). The vision of them haunts me still.
She was an elderly frail black woman. She sat on the bench of the table in almost a slump. Her back was bent as if it carried some unseen incredible load. She was "hunkered" over, with her hands in her lap, and her gaze never wavered from the table top. She was in her Sunday finest, with a black hat with black feathers. She looked ancient and frail. Her hands were folded in her lap. They were old hands, the skin looking mummified and stretched across bones without much muscle left. Her skin was wrinkled, and reminded me of parchment paper. The veins and tendons stuck out from the back of her hands and ran up her arm only to disappear under the sleeve of her dress. Those hands had seen hard work.
She never moved. It was only with intense scrutiny that I saw her chest rise and fall, and she did occasionally blink, but her eyes never left that spot on the table. She was not engaging her surroundings. In that room full of people I could see she was alone. It was only when I saw that there was two glasses of tea on the table that I gathered that she must have some company. Where was her dining guest? It seemed an eternity before an elderly man, in a sport coat and slacks laid a plate down in front of her. He was equally old, and also a little "stooped", but he moved with some confidence, and unlike his female companion, his eyes did sweep the room and he seemed more aware of his surroundings.
He stood next to her, and taking her silver ware he cut the meat and associated items on her plate. He placed the plate before her, and without looking up she took her fork and started to pick small mouthfuls of food and raised them to her mouth. It was a small mouth, and she chewed silently without her head moving nor her gaze shifting beyond her plate.
He moved to the opposite side of the table, and started to eat his own meal. I did not see her raise her head, nor did I see them engage in any conversation. They sat there on opposite sides of the table, together and yet separated by an invisible wall. I could not help myself, I glanced their way throughout our own meal. My Granddaughter had much to recount, and shared the accumulated experiences of a fourth grader. Who bullied who, who she felt the need to threaten, and why.... Her excitement over her as yet unborn baby brother..... She had much to share and she dominated the conversation at our table.
At the table across the dining area, they sat silently sharing their small plates without seeming to notice one another. The meager pickings they allowed themselves finally consumed, they shared the quiet time together, and still her gaze did not shift. Eventually he reached across the table and laid his hands on hers. She did not shift her gaze, but her hands eventually shifted to grasp his. There was much passed between them in that contact, but the message was from one soul to another, and not something communicated to anyone else. I wonder at the contents of that message.
Not sure why, but the experience of sharing a moment observing them alone in a room full of people haunts me. No other word for it. I feel haunted. It troubles me on levels that I am not able to understand. Watching them somehow connected to something in my soul, but I am not sure what it is I am feeling................... only that it is intense. There is something noble, and terribly sad (beyond nostalgic) in what I think I observed. It has been a long time since I held up strangers in prayer, but I pray God blesses those two.
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