A TRUE STORY - LOST IN TIME 

By Tessa Harvey


JULY 2023

    Lucy sat on the hard metal chair at the airport. She had said her final, thankful goodbyes. Her lovely family had gone to a land of better work prospects, and possibly more freedom to love their God.
    Lucy hadn't wanted to tell them about her recently diagnosed heart condition. She felt that vital organ fluttering beneath her fingers. Unwillingly, shakily, she turned and watched as the plane turned to taxi down the runway/
    Seven years ago, Sean , her beloved husband of forty years had died suddenly of a massive heart attack. Alive and laughing one minute, gasping soundlessly the next, then nothing. Jim had believed totally in God. He would have called his passing as going home. 
    The airport strummed with noise around her. Lucy could not let go of the hard chair.
A large heavy-set middle aged man plumped down next to her. He oozed massively over the chair seat. Lucy thought she heard a groan, and despite her situation, she had to stifle the urge to giggle. He turned clumsily towards her and opened his mouth to chat. A wave of stale breath gusted her way.
    Struggling to hide her revulsion, Lucy mumbled something about having to go. A thin elderly lady from some distance, was beckoning the man to come. She looked tired and disheveled and was clutching the tiny hands of two wailing children, in one3 of her own as she waved. The kids were crying.
    Kindly, Licy called the waving lady to the weight-challenged man's attention. This time he groaned as he rose, almost taking the chair with him.
    Jim would have quietly prayed for them, she thought suddenly - and so would Sean. If real, God was cruel - and so she strode away, hard-hearted.

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