call

~ for Mom ~ it seems … like yesterday and it seems like forever … I can see them clearly I can feel the soft wrinkles of skin her little hands - clutching the round disc skin as thin as tissue paper veins winding their purple-ish way across bone and tendon not always so delicate … I think of all the miracles those small appendages worked - all the wonders taken part and witnessed many times for the benefit of my own rather undeserving hide … almost obsequious in their regard (when it came to me, anyway) unspoken, that bond since before time, at least in my awareness of it and that alliance has been my salvation more times than I can put number to … that amazing woman - small in stature, yet anything BUT in energy and spirit - saw the activity of her sweet hands shrink with her height and strength until she could no longer perform all but the simplest of tasks … oh, her mind stayed as clear as a glacial rill, sharp and witty and creative and the spark in her eyes always shined bright but moons and miles took their toll and I became her legs and arms and ears … it was a job that blessed me beyond imagination and one I see now that she trained me for … so … while her small hands came to lack the vigor for most daily tasks she could still press the call button on the little disk that hung around her neck like a pendant … it was ME on the other end, you see as our unspoken bond had become a very vital electronic one … I didn’t give that button much thought, really until one night I was putting her to bed and she grabbed my arm with one hand, grasped her call disc with the other, looked deep into my gaze and said to me … “I always keep this close to my heart, because I know that whenever I press it, my angel … will come” now … those little hands are but memory (tho I held them ‘til the warmth was gone then lay them upon her) … but I keep that buzzer near me for it means so much more than I can express and sometimes I press it, (as silly as that may seem) sometimes I press it … and pray - I pray even harder than I prayed when I was faithful … but nothing happens there is no sound and no one ever comes for SHE was the angel … and I … was the needy one. Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden, March 18, 2024 ( photograph taken by Gregory R Barden )