Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: I SURRENDER ALL (to God) (don’t write about the song) (05/07/15)
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TITLE: The Elevator | Previous Challenge Entry
By Catherine Craig
05/12/15 -
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Almost dancing toward the rear entrance of her office building, she felt the thrill, the rush of adrenalin that accompanied every successful negotiation. Marney was good at what she did, and knew it.
Straightening, she slowed her pace. Running a hand over her hair to smooth strays, she also conducted a mental check on her face, and composed it. Professional, always professional – that’s what she was known for.
Managing to snag the elevator just as the doors opened, she pushed the button. Smug, she read the sign, “Harper Real Estate Group, Marney Harper, Broker”.
Marney looked at her watch. Two-o’clock. Time to drop the new contract off for processing, and then to head over for that unpleasant annual exam. “Ugh,” she complained.
~~~~~
Aching from having soft tissue pressed, squashed, and prodded, Marney discreetly rubbed at the light bruising she’d endured. From her corner seat, she eyed others who also pretended to scan magazines, but weren’t.
“Ms. Harper?” a nurse called out. All eyes looked up. Marney could feel their stares as she stood and nonchalantly crossed the room, trying to ignore the butterflies in the pit of her stomach.
Left alone in an examining room, she stared at the second hand of the sterile black and white wall clock, as it worked its way back to twelve. Had this been the same one she’d stared at last year, with dread, yet such hope?
~~~~~
Marney tightened her scarf’s knot to keep it from sliding on her smooth bald head. The ting of the elevator’s belt alerted her to its approach, but she lacked the strength to hurry for it, so she didn’t step up her pace. There would always be another, even if she had to wait.
Once in, the face that stared back at her from the elevator’s mirror was somber. Large eyes, bleak, in a thin face, mouth set in a grim line.
Marney sensed something was missing, and blinked back tears once she realized what it was. Her name.
The sign now read, “Morison Real Estate Group, Timothy Morison, Broker”. The sale of her business – they’d just put the new sign up.
~~~~~
Fingers of color reached across the sky from the horizon, announcing the imminent arrival of a new day. Though not one Marney wanted to celebrate.
Perched on the hilltop, staring out over the water, she listened to the breakers hitting the shore far below, and prayed. Her heart felt like lead. She felt dead.
“I don’t know why all this has happened, but Hound of Heaven, I know I left you. I know I didn’t care about anything, anything except getting ahead. It seemed important then, but now?”
Marney pushed the button, and heard the whir of the tiny motor as her windows rolled down and the cold sea air poured in. Unsatisfied, she opened the door, and wearily pulled herself to her feet. Stepping out, away from the vehicle, and close to the cliff’s edge, she mused, It would be so easy, just to…
“Dear Lord,” she sobbed aloud, hugging her arms to keep warm, “Lead, and I’ll try to follow. But, for right now, I’m too tired to care, and too discouraged to try. Please carry me…”
~~~~~
Running her hand over her soft curls, Marney smiled, and then pushed the button. Looking up, she examined her reflection. It was the same, yet different.
Gone were the tension, the harried expression in her eyes, and the creases in her forehead. Nor was there the gauntness, the hollow, vacant look of the recent past. Rather, her eyes shone, large and luminous, happy. Her mouth was tipped up at the corners, as if she had a secret, ready to pop out.
The ting of the bell told her she was approaching the sixth floor. Marney reached into her purse to extract the paperwork she needed for her appointment. Looking down, she saw the words, “Nurse training application” printed in bold letters.
She had butterflies, yes but these were the good kind - the kind that came, not from wanting to get, but to give. For so long, she’d lost sight of what was important. But now?
She knew.
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