Living in the Past lives…
I sat down on the boat I was refurnishing. I decided I should go into town today. I would finish the boat later. I don't think Red's even out of prison yet for parole. I walked into the market. I bought some food for myself and sat on a street corner eating it. I don't think anyone would mess with me anyway. My eyes are stone cold from prison. I don't look like a friendly person. I doubted anyone would ever learn to love me again.
There across the street was a girl. She looked pretty young and I was an old man now after twenty hellhole years in prison. I smile to myself, as they didn't have a clue to what I've been doing for nearly twenty years. Hoping one day I would be free again. I'm a free man here. No one bothers me or even says hello to me. I watch the girl turn and twist with the dance. Young men, foolish men actually, stay watching this beauty dance around.
Soon they start harassing her. I just turn away minding my own business. IT wasn't my place. Till I heard her scream for help. The man had a gun pointed at her. I quickly went over and knocked him over the head with the bottle of beer I was drinking. That did the trick. The girl looked gracious. She started to cry by her lonesome. I placed an arm around her. It seemed the right thing to do at the time. I took her over to my car and drove her to my small beach house.
"Hey it's going to be alright." She looked at me and smiled the most beautiful smile. I smiled back at her. I carried her small body to the house. She fell asleep driving home. I placed her on my bed getting myself some coffee while she slept. I headed back to the boat that was on the side of the house. I saw a dark man walking across the beach his hat blew off but he didn't seem to care.
He just smiled as I jumped off the boat. I hugged him. I did miss my friend. It was lonely out here being a free man alone. We could make it together I knew it. Soon the girl I picked up I saw at the doorway. She was silently standing there looking at the ground.
*
"Andy you got a girl waiting for you."
"Hmm she isn't mine though. She had a scare in the market and she broke down crying. I took her to my house because I couldn't leave her on the streets."
"Well how do ya do maim." Red nodded down to her in respect.
"Fine Sir."
"No Sir I never did anything to deserve a sir title."
"Okay what's your name?"
"Friends call me Red."
"Well Red it's nice to meet you." I noticed that this girl had her gaze all over Andy. I smiled to myself.
"Red is the Pacific as blue as you imagined it?"
"No disappointment here." Andy deserved a girl as pretty as this one. She had long blonde hair that was curled loosely. Not like the tight curls he saw in the city. She was wearing a slip dress with a slit that came up mid thigh and showed a lot of her cleavage. No wonder this girl had a scare in the market any dishonorable man would of jumped her.
"Excuse me young lady but since I saved your life can you at least give me your name?"
"Rosalie Smith but I'd rather be called just Ro."
"Well Ro would you and Red like to eat with me tonight."
"What did you say?"
"Would you like to eat, umm are you hungry?"
"Yes thank you." That girl I swear she looked like she was starving. I bet she lived on the streets. Her parents should protect a girl like this or a husband not out in the streets. I tried talking to Ro when Andy was talking.
"So where you from here?"
"No I really haven't lived anywhere yet." Her voice in a matter of fact voice.
"You been running?"
"Yeah but I don't have anyone looking for me." She said sadly. Her eyes showed so much pain almost as if she was going to cry.
"What happened?"
"Well I don't really know I ran from girl's homes, foster homes, any kind of home I've been running from. I been all over the states, Canada, and around these parts."
"So are you looking for something?"
"I used to be looking for my family but gave that up now I don't know what I'm looking for but I know when I find it."
Andy seemed to be listening to the conversation. "You can stay here if you want for a while." Ro seemed to nod thanking him. She was looking for something well I was going to move out here since I couldn't go back to the US.
Ro went to sleep in Andy's bed for the night. He would move her later. "So what do you think of the girl?"
"She's pretty Red but she too young for me."
"Oh yeah your young at heart. What if she's as old as you are? Prison makes you look older." Andy only forty but he looked so much older.
"Hmm perhaps but we'll see about that."
"I know she likes ya Andy."
"Sure she does like you were innocent." My face brightened. As I laughed richly.
"So what did ya do?"
"She was going to be shot by a young, foolish man. I knocked him out with my bottle of beer and she broken down against the building she was dancing by."
"So she's a dancer. She seems too sad to be a lively dancer."
"Hmm she seems to have a good thing inside of her that never dies." I looked at Andy who was looking down at the girl. She had to be in her late twenties. It wouldn't be too bad for him to marry a young girl.
We go outside watching the waves. I look out at it. So calm and relaxing just what I needed. The full moon was out. "Hey Red do you believe in soulmates?"
"Yeah anything could happen why?"
"I was wondering because I fell instantly in love when I first laid eyes on her."
"That would be love at first sight wouldn't Andy?"
"Yes but it seems like I have a connection to her."
"Well maybe you've met her before."
"What when she was a baby or a small child?"
"It could happen. She's still a baby and child though if you look at it that way." She was a lost, lonely child looking like a wounded, sad, loyal pup coming home to his owner. She had hurt inside and out.
Andy just laughed realizing I was right. Over the next couple of months it seemed true that those two where made for each other. Complete the same but uniquely different. The girl seemed even wiser than both Andy and me the way she talked. It seemed to make our lives in prison a lot better than on the streets. She had seen death all of her life. I suppose that's why she didn't stay in one spot too long. It seemed to haunt her sleep.
I watched from the porch Andy standing out on the beach watching the girl. She seemed to be a water spirit the way she danced along the sandy beaches and looking out to the water. Andy walked down to her. I wondered what my friend was going to do. He seemed to walk over there like nothing was going on. He always had a kind of walk that made you think he was going through a park for a casual stroll. I liked him the first time I saw him but never realized that the tricks he pulled in prison would become legendary.
Ro seemed startled by his sudden appearance but soon kept dancing. She had to have some kind of magic to be able to dance like that. But she told me it keeps her spirit up when she's down. I left the two when I died of old age and from smoking so much. But I still watched over both of them.
Andy seemed sad sometimes but now I see him with his girl. She comforts the hard man. I watched over the years as she beards a child for Andy too. I watched, as they both grew old together. Ro was actually not that much younger than he was. She was only five years younger. Which was a lot less than what Andy ever thought. Now I'm here in the afterlife. I watch over my friend. He was and always will be one in a million.
Soon he came to the afterlife along with his wife Ro. They arrived young again. Both drowned in a boat in a big storm but they promised each other to find each other again. They did I was sent after to fetch them. You can be who ever you want in the afterlife but you keep your eyes the same you can never change them.
"Hey Andy, don't be afraid."
"Where am I?"
"You've died Andy."
"Where's Ro?"
"She's right next to you can't you see her?"
"No I can't see anything."
"Your still in fear Andy. But you'll get used to it." I took Ro's hand as I let her follow me to were they belonged. Andy seemed to notice a tug on his arm. Ro walked in front of him. "She's still here with you."
"I can see myself but where is Ro."
"Right here Andy." Andy looks down at the quiet young woman he loved. She was still quite shy around little old me. You would of thought she never seen a dark man.
Someone was waiting for Ro. He never told what he wanted or me who he was. Ro saw him and ran to him. "Spence I missed you."
"Yeah I know Rosa, I missed you too." Andy seemed jealous of the young man. Rosa held onto him like he could make all her sadness goes away.
"Ro who is this?"
"Andy meet Spence my brother."
"Oh you're her brother."
