Dear Ms. Williams,

It’s been three months since I last saw you saunter through the door of this deli. Is it weird that I know it was a Thursday? Or that you were wearing a shawl bought from the local sewing collective? But it’s true. All of us here have been talking about how much we’ve missed your smiling face and encouraging words. I know, I know, death is meant to be a liberation from pain but it’s like you took a piece of all of us here with you. The other night we imagined you singing with the nightingales, far outside the city. Or maybe you’ve come back as a cow in the forest, or even the greenery itself. Whatever it is, we know you are bringing joy to those around you.  

The other day, my little daughter Mary swore she smelled your honeysuckle perfume and started crying. She was inconsolable until we gave her a vanilla ice cream. We all agreed that this is how you’d have cheered her up as well, making sure it was served with crunchy nuts on top and with lots of napkins because we all know how Mary eats. 

Your legacy lives on here, though. The sandwich you always would order, Turkey, bacon, and bleu cheese has become the Edna Special. I swear we’re taking in so much money from orders for it that we’re going to need bulletproof glass in the windows to keep all of our loot safe. 

Wherever you are, I hope you’re enjoying something scrumptious. Even if, these days your idea of scrumptious might well be simply sunlight, soil, and water.

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I wrote this piece during one of Sage’s free weekly writing groups, during one of the games we play every week. All the attendees secretly share a random word and Sage reads them off one by one every thirty seconds while write and try to incorporate each one into whatever it is we’re writing. Sometimes nothing comes of it, other times I surprise myself. This is one of those times.

If you’d like to join either of the writing groups, they’re on summer vacation now but will be back September 10th and 11th. You can join here. People who join don’t need to have their cameras on, talk or participate though there are opportunities to share and give feedback to one another.

And if you’d just like to try playing Flesh Cricket yourself, you can find the Flesh Cricket podcast here.

Photo by Robert S. from Flickr, used under Creative Commons License.