A TRUE STORY - LOST IN TIME 

By Tessa Harvey


    At the thrift shop later in the week, Lucy found some good bargains. Taking them to the counter, she was confronted by an older lady, instead of the usual pleasant middle-aged ladies.
    This lady had glasses shaped sharply and a voice to match. "You got some good bargains," she groused. Clearly the unspoken words were: you were crafty.
    The woman held up each article. At the last item, a small pink and white crochet rug, she deliberately asked more than it was worth. Lucy paid. It was not worth the hassle.
    She drove home, dispirited, missing her family, regretting saying she would be fine. Her cat greeted her at the door. Probably hungry, she thought, feeling tears welling as she fed him.
    Sinking down into an armchair, her purchases strewn around her, Lucy wondered what life was all about now she was alone....

    Her cat, Jimbo sniffed her bags, then leapt slightly to her lap, snuggling close, purring as she stroked his soft grey fur. The radio had been left on and peaceful music filled the room. Then a man's voice was speaking something about: "Thankful people are not bitter people."
    Oh, she thought, my family have gone, I'm alone. They think I will join them, but I am ill and cannot tell them. What is there to be thanful for in that?
    You have a home, she thought, a car, food, money, water that is not a muddy puddle where little children cup their hands to drink. Warmth.
    Her husband had left her his Bible. Careful not to disturb Jimbo, Lucy reached out and opened it and read Psalm 23. It felt truthful.
    Feeling somewhat soothed, the old lady fell asleep and dreamed. She saw herself as a child, a young woman, then it seemed to be the future......


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