Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Hear / Here (01/26/23)
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TITLE: Boardwalk Rhapsody | Previous Challenge Entry
By Vicki J. Cypcar
02/02/23 -
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Was always full
Of music and life
8-yr-old Lily Grace
Sat on the pier
Strumming her too small guitar
As people marveled
At the young prodigy
With the bare sandy soles
Her lyrics rang out like prayers
To her mother
Gently carried on the breeze
To the heavens
***
Her father owns the Salty Dog Diner
And always smells like fish and chips
At slow times he sits on the pier
With his sweet daughter
Watching peach-colored sunsets
He tries to gather her
Messy blonde strands
Into a rubberband
The way his wife always did
But Lily Grace pulls away
No dad!
You don’t know how!
***
Krista McIntire is a music teacher
At the local middle school
She stops by to hear little Lily Grace
Strum her guitar
And routinely
Donates dog-eared music books
She has collected over time
Lily Grace is a sweet reminder
Of Krista’s old self
when she was young
Sadly- an auto accident
Ended her days of guitar playing
Her left wrist forever fused
Her range of motion limited
But she could still play piano
And teach music
***
Lily’s father came out of the diner
To feed a stray kitten table scraps
Krista walked over
Johnathan smiled wide
Seemingly smitten
But not with the kitten
Krista scooped up the cat
With the sad blue eyes
Who is this?
***
Once home
The kitten leapt out of her book bag
Then jumped up onto the piano
The keys rang out
Krista sat to play
The kitten now
Pawing at the metronome
After a big meal
He settled into his new home
And nestled into his cat bed
His only downfall was
Was using Krista’s guitar case
As a scratching post
***
A welcomed sunny Saturday
Krista removed the guitar case
Wedged between the piano and wall
And dusted off years of tired memories
She placed the guitar case
On the window seat
Opened the case
The guitar resting lifeless
In what now seemed to be
A velvet-lined casket
She gently removed it
“Maestro” wasted no time
jumping into the case
To stretch out and sunbathe
Krista clutched the guitar
As if greeting a long lost friend
She then tuned the guitar
To perfect pitch
***
The coastline had been throttled
By monster waves 2 weeks before
The pier where Lily Grace once played
Was washed away
And so was the little guitar
Lily Grace blamed herself
For leaving it at the diner
The diner that filled with water
Where driftwood
Stacked like firewood
Leaning against the counter
Like rude guests
***
That sunny Saturday
Krista meandered down the boardwalk
Lily Grace sat alone on beach towel
Arranging seashells
As her dad painted the window trim
On his now tattered diner
Krista kneeled down
And placed the guitar case
In front of Lily
Then gently brushed Lily’s hair back
Away from her tear-streaked face
“This is for you.”
Lily Grace opened the case
Her face beamed
Johnathan watched
As his daughter hugged Krista
Lily Grace had not hugged
Anyone in the past 4 years
Since her mother died
Grief will do that
***
Krista reached her home
On Sycamore Lane
Sat on the porch swing
Sipping sweet tea
With Maestro on her lap
The once silent strings of her old guitar
Were now brought to life
She could hear the sounds
Of Lily Grace’s melodies
Echoing in the breeze
The sunset that evening
Was exceptional.
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