Meant to be
The sun came through the window as the glass refracted the rays peaking through. Clarence James, asleep in his world of dreams, was awakened by the warmth of the sun kissing his face. He saw through the window massive trees brimmed with broad green leaves.
"Oh, If only I were a leaf," he said with a yawn. "I would'nt have to deal with the lonliness."
Clarence got out of bed with his thoughts blazing toward madness as he headed to the door with the awkwardness of a child just learning how to walk. He tripped over clothes that never managed to find their respectful place, but he didnt seem to mind, after all it was the least of his concern. Throwing himself together preparing for the riot of the day, he noticed something out of place. A small box with the initials p.o.g. was left at his doorstep. Without question, Clarence picked it up to examine it a bit closer. It was made of finely carved mahogany of the highest sort. Clarence opened the lid with an angels care as he peered inside.
"This is beauty only symphonies could carry!" He said with a perplexed look in his eye. A melody only a lovers heart could understand, a heart of his own. He found a lyric sheet glued to the underside of the lid only seen once fully opened that he read aloud...
"If I had the words to say, I wouldnt need to love this way.
For such words mean nothing, when my heart just says it all."
He pieced the words to the melody carefully as it consumed his very soul, like the song bird that sings to its lover "will I ever find such love?" he said with a concerned tone of voice. In the center of the box stood a figure of a man dressed in his finest, but dancing alone. Setting the song box on the dining table, he turned to finish walking out of the door with the tears still clinging to his rugged face, pondering of the person who would even dare to attemp such a thing. He couldnt stop thinking of what the initials stood for, or who for that matter. What Clarence James doesnt know, is that this is the summer that will change his life forever.
It was a beautiful summer day that only someone like Clarence could take in to the fullest. Walking down main street Carverstown With his button up pale white collar shirt, tough gray cotton shorts, with leather shoes and his brown hair slicked back like a silver screen star. He had the smile and walk of confidence when he passed people walking by him which is why he works where he does.
"Maxwells drug and grocery, home sweet home." Clarence said with a smerk on his face. Clarence was the grocery route boy who went around town with his cart of goods to take to the houses that ordered from Maxwells.
Clarence pushed his way into the store to find Mr. Maxwell staring him in the face. "your fifteen minutes late lad. . . "
"I'd like to think your clock is wrong sir" Clarence said with a witty grin.
"Dont take a tone with me Clarence James, or I'll tell your father of ya" Mr. Maxwell said in a stern english tone.
Clarence made his way to the back of the store to gather the things to check off the list Mr. Maxwell gave him. Clarence couldnt stand the thought of working for such an odd bitter old man, but he needed the job non the less. He wheeled the cart around front to get ready for his route, putting on the cap that said Maxwells drug and grocery. He pushed his way down main street only stopping to make a drop. He came to a cross in the road where main street continues and Roseneath road is joined. Roseneath road is red brick and there is a stretch of it where trees seemed to make a canopy.
Just as soon as Clarence was admiring the canopy, he caught a glimpse of something else out of the corner of his eye. Her name is Mary Ingleton. She sat on one of the many benches lining Roseneath. Her dress is lavender with lacey seems. Her eyes are like the piercing sky and her hair like the golden sun. Clarence is very familiar with her simply because he loves her. He knows all to well of the heartache he has had because of her, so his plan is to avoid her. He pushes his cart now with haste trying so not even a glimpse of him will be seen.
"Yes!" Carence says with a sigh of releif. "Ive gone unnoticed, but why do I run from such love?" Clarence asks himself under his breath only to remember his memories with Mary. "My pain only seems to outweigh my love for her because of her fear for the love I hold."
Leaning against the cobble stone wall of the town hall building, clarence manages to catch his breath and restore his composure.
"Am I a monster Clarence?" said a soft voice from behind him. Clarence didnt even want to turn around, for he knew his heart would surely fall through his chest only to hit the ground with an impact to shatter. He built up the courage to turn and look into her sky pierced eyes.
"No, no monster could even contain such a lovely voice, but must you torment me?"
"Your torment seems to be of your own, Clarence" Mary said respectfully.
"True this torment I carry is my own, but never created by these hands. You know Of what I speak, Mary." Clarence said.
"Must you run from me without the dignity to say hello?" Mary said with hurt in her eyes. Clarence, with all of his might, tried not to speak, but his heart took the best of him. "Must you continue to run from my love, Mary?"
"Good day to you Mary" Clarence said pushing his cart away with a heart the weight of the world upon his chest. Mary Turned and ran away down Roseneath, wiping the tears from her eyes like the rain from the sky. You see she feels the same for clarence, but the only difference is Clarence shows his love like a medal, a medal over his heart for the love he is fighting for, but Mary, on the other hand, is scared of her own love and hides it away from her own heart. If only Clarence saw the tears of rain falling from Marys skies when she thought of him, but In his heart he knows her love and thats what keeps him going.
Clarence pushes his cart past an older gentleman sitting on a bench in front of the town hall. His hair was dark and curly. He wore a rag for a shirt and pants with the shirt having a name tag that said something, but Clarence couldnt make it out. His face was gentle as Clarence noted when the light shown upon the man.
"She loves you you know." Said the man in an uplifting tone of voice.
"What business of it is yours that you might speak of such things?" Clarence said sharply, still in agony over talking with Mary.
"The business of a stranger lad. I to know what its like to love the girl of your life time," said the man softly, then continues, "but being able to only hold onto the pieces of your ship wrecked heart. She Is like a rose lad, a rose still waiting to blossom while the others already have, but when she is ready to bloom, her scent will be of the summer rains, and her heart will be red with love." Said the man with kind eyes.
"I dont love her, and I dont know what you are talking about!" Said Clarence as he turned to keep walking away from the man.
"Clarence James, you can lie to yourself, but not to me."
Clarence froze in contemplation. As Clarence turned to ask the man how he knew his name the man had vanished. "I think this summer sun is catching up with me." Clarence said to himself in a daze.
Clarence finished his drop offs and made his way back to Maxwells. The sun was set low in the sky, beckoning the frogs and crickets to sing their songs. Clarence thought of the day and wanted nothing more than to relax and sit by the pond under the pale moon. He dropped off the cart and cap leaving Maxwells with another long day accomplished.
He walked home praying under his breath, "God why must I live with such pain in love?" God didn't speak, as a matter a fact God never spoke when Clarence prayed about such things. Clarence made his way back to his house to find a note on his door. On the outside it read, Clarence James and as he opend it he soon realized it was an invitation requesting him to meet p.o.g. at the old Simmons mill pond. The Letter was tied in lavender lace
"It cant be!" Clarence said aloud. "Marys initials arent even close to p.o.g, I cant seem to make any sense of it all. I bet this is her way of trying to seek my love only to throw it away as usual." Clarence fought it out in his mind and heart. "This is a cruel trick only Mary would try!" His mind shouted. "But this could be her blossoming, too scared to request me by her name," said Clarences heart.
"If only I knew what to do" Clarence said. Just as he spoke, he heard a noise that pulled him away from his very thoughts. It was the sound of love, the sound only symphonies could cary.
As the melody played the words came to Clarences heart, "If I had the words to say, I wouldnt need to love this way. For such words mean nothing, when my heart just says it all." As he picked up the dark mahogany box he said " Love pours out of you in a melody more familiar to me than my dreams, a melody my heart is rhythmed equally to. Why should I not follow my heart to find out the mystery of this p.o.g.?" Clarence said to himself, as he watched the figure of the man dressed in his finest dacing, in a circle alone. Clarence, with his heart abound, pulled from his mess of clothes his finest. He adjusted his bow tie in the mirror stating " If not for love, than for what do the consequence of my actions bring?" He took up the song box and headed out of his door with high spirits but a heavy heart.
Walking down the moon lit path on his way to Simmons Mill pond is where Clarences love has found him. Not in bitterness, not in agony, but in hope and in faith he is walking down this path alone in high spirits that he might not have to walk alone any longer. Just as Clarence realized this he came upon lights near the pond. Not very bright lights but they were unusual to be seen there none the less. There was a stretch of a grassy hill between the pond and the ocean where the lights were seen. Clarence came upon a white fenced area with lights lining the fence and a white table with chairs.
"Is this but a dream that I have found myself in?" Clarence thought to himself. He sat at the table setting his song box down and waiting patiently for p.o.g. As he was sitting he noticed that in the corner where the fence met, was a smaller table with a phonograph. In the center of the fence was a circular wooden stage that looked magnificent under tha pale lights surrounding the fence. Looking up from the stage, Clarence noticed a light off in the distance working its way down to the pond.
"Could this be it? Could this be Mary?" he said to himself. This figure drew in closer for Clarence soon to find that it wasn't Mary, but it was a familiar face. "The man from main street in Carverstown?" Clarence said.
"At your service," Said the man.
"Why on earth have I found myself here with you?" asked Clarence.
The man held his toungue for a minute and then spoke up "Long have you waited and long have you struggled through love with pain, this night belongs to you, lad."
Clarence was confused therfore speechless. He held is head in his hands thinking of what a blissfull idiot he was, only to hear that familiar melody begin to play on the phonograph. As Clarence struggled to lift his head, he had noticed that the man had vanished once again.
Those haunting words began to soar over the music, this time being sung "If I had the words to say, I wouldnt need to love this way. For such words mean nothing, when my heart just says it all" But the words didn't stop there. . . . "There is more?" Clarence spoke. "You can find me in the summer, Of our love that I hold so dear, I will hold my love before you, and push away my fears."
"Thats my part of the song" a soft voice spoke behind Clarence as he turned to see Mary standing there in her finest with her own song box.
"I dont understand Mary. If you did all of this than why make your own song box?" asked Clarence.
Mary hesitated for a reply. "I thought you made it as a gift to show how you harbor your love for me."
"No, Mary, but my heart is in this song. When it plays its as if my love for you is clear." Clarence said.
"Your love has been more than clear Clarence, it is my own love that Ive hidden from the sight of yours, but the very same song brought out of me how real my love is for you and that hiding it has only hurt the both of us." Mary replied.
Mary opened her song box to show Clarence what was inside. Clarence saw the same lyric sheet glued to the lid but with different words, the words of her part of the song. He also noticed a platform where a lone figure of a girl in her finest was dancing in a circle. It didnt take Clarence long to figure it out.
"Would you care to dance Mary?" He asked.
"Clarence James, I would love to" she replied with her captivating smile. "So who then is this p.o.g.?" Mary asked as they approached the circular stage. In the middle of the stage Clarence noticed a letter with his name on it. Clarence opened the letter as it read
"Now you are both as a rose, blossoming together in truth and in love.
May your love always carry the scent of the summer rains and the beauty of the redest rose."
love,
p.o.g.
Clarence closed the letter seeing that on the back of it was p.o.g. upside down G.o.d.
"Who is the letter from Clarence?" Mary asked, curious about that p.o.g. person.
"Oh, just that p.o.g. fellow, lets dance Mary." Clarence replied.
As they danced Clarence realized that God had heard his every prayer and this love was truly divine.
THE END