Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Outgoing (05/05/11)
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TITLE: Bubble Bath and Roses | Previous Challenge Entry
By Linda Goergen
05/12/11 -
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I didn’t mean to stare but it’s hard to ignore six older ladies wearing similar lime green skirts and white T-Shirts that had “Jesus Told Me To” emblazoned in fluorescent pink across the front! To top it off, some had different shades of fluorescent flowers pinned in their hair! They weren’t trying to blend in to the crowd or be invisible, that was for sure! The loud laughter and chatter you’d hear from these grannies as they’d disappear down one isle and then another, made it apparent they had no fear of attracting attention!!
The more I saw them popping here and there and the more I read their shirts, the more my plain old fashioned nosiness got the best of me! I wondered what the group could be doing parading around Wal-Mart dressed like that! So when I saw them leave the garden shop, with one carrying a lovely small plant, and head for health and beauty aids, where I was, I shamefully listened! An isle from me, I heard one practically shout to the other, “Here, this bath powder will be perfect!”
“For what?” I wanted to ask, but it REALLY was none of my business and never being an outgoing person, my shy personality was goading me to move on, so my curiousness would NOT become conspicuous! So, I headed for the checkout, a bit frustrated at not uncovering what these ladies were up to, but also wondering WHY I wanted to know, for I am usually the last to put my nose where it doesn’t belong!
Trying to put my mind elsewhere, I concentrated on some beautiful roses on display close to the register and grabbed some on a whim, thinking what a treat it would be to bask in bubble bath surrounded by roses when I got home! I don’t often really pamper myself but today I had a strong urge!
Checking out my last item, as luck would have it, the ladies group passed the service desk, also heading to check out. I heard the clerk call out to them “you ladies headed to the nursing home again today?”
“Yep” they all sang out in chorus. “Got our gifts all right here”, one of them added.
I laughed inside at finally realizing their mission! A group of grannies going to cheer even older, or less healthy grannies! I just knew this outgoing, boisterous bunch of golden girls would be a welcome site to that sterile, stuffy nursing home! And seeing evidence of people so happily going to share joy, blessed me too!
I was still putting my purchases inside my car when the group came sauntering past me, one arm in arm with another when she said “ June dear, I am SO glad you persuaded us to do these outfits today, what a hoot”
“I HAD to!” June piped up “Jesus told me to!”
And as I left, I laughed with them, as they all giggled!
Down the road some miles I became hungry, so decided to stop at a small café I saw along the way. Thinking how good it would be to get home, still full and content from a good meal, then crawl into that fragrant bath! But once inside, my eyes and mind kept lingering on the swollen belly and ankles and weary look of the young waitress, waiting on me. To my shock, I heard myself telling her she looked tired.
“I’m sorry” she said, “I have been putting in extra hours because my husband has been laid off. I am almost at the end of my shift.”
“I understand”, I said, lowering my head and saying no more.
Leaving, I handed her a generous tip, then said, “I’ll be right back!”
I came back, handed her the bubble bath and roses and saw her face come back alive! Smiling, she opened her mouth to speak, but I held my hand up saying “I HAD to! Jesus told me to!”
A tear slid down her face as she whispered “I had been thinking…”
I turned and left, knowing Jesus laughed with me, as I giggled all the way home!
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