Gnarled

We hadn’t visited for a while. I looked forward to seeing her smile. We came as often as we could. Probably not as often as we should. Mom was in a Nursing Home. Dementia had set in and she started to roam. So, this was the best place for her to be, As we had to move out of state to Kentucky. Walked in the door and saw her so thin. A strange man was just tucking her in. He was wrinkled and old with thinning grey hair. We were surprised, not sure he should be there. He explained he was the handyman named Sye. Saw mom’s blankets on the floor when passing by. We had come to town to sell mom’s things. To see how much her furniture brings. Her home is for sale, so everything must be sold. Advertised online, should get good prices we’re told. A woman had called, said she would buy it all. Her dad had made that furniture. She said on the call. He always used special gnarled wood. It was recognized. We agreed on the price. She said his work was prized. She asked how we had come by such expensive pieces. All Mom’s old furniture, she’d given some to her nieces. The furniture made of gnarled wood was sold. We went again to visit mom in her home for the old. To our surprise the handy man was again in her room. Both sat at a table of gnarled wood with a cedar perfume. I saw it advertised and had my daughter buy it, he said. So happy she had it with her all these years. A tear he shed. I made this furniture for her she was the one I adore. Told I died, she married another, I was a prisoner of war.