Come Again

After a chat with my sister Kathy, I thought of two stories caused me to recall two stories I’d written years ago. The key that opened both was the word “rapture.” The actual word rapture is not found I the Bible, but the concept of being snatched up and caught away is. In the following story I use that word.

At the end of another long and stressful day of work at Frick Hospital, I pulled into our driveway. I glanced up and saw my wife standing on the front porch with her purse dangling from her arm. I knew exactly what she wanted, but I was exhausted. I was so stressed. I only wanted to drink a glass of iced tea and settle back in a comfortable chair with my feet up for an hour or so.

I climbed out of the car. As I walked to meet her, I said, “Unless the house is on fire or it happens to be the second coming, I don’t plan on leaving the house tonight.”

My wife’s reply wasn’t sweet, but it was to the point,  “Well, that answers my question.” She turned and went back into the house.

The second story I recalled was about the aunt Pearl and uncle Earl. I’m using fictitious names to protect the innocent. It happened at a time when vehicles didn’t race by like rockets on ball bearings. A country drive was a leisurely event. Weekly shopping trips were often done in the nearby towns of Mt. Pleasant or Connellsville, Pennsylvania. On such a shopping trip, uncle Earl drove Pearl to Connellsville to make her purchases.

I have to intervene here with a relevant fact; uncle Earl was very hard of hearing. When uncle Earl pulled back into their driveway, he turned to say something to Pearl AND she wasn’t there. His first thought was, “Was it the Rapture? What did I do that I wasn’t taken too?”

Then he thought, “Did I leave Connellsville without her?” He decided to retrace his drive. The route from Connellsville to Normalville has a long hill with a flattened area about halfway up. When Earl made the halfway flattened area, there was Pearl standing on the berm, brushing the cinders and dust from her skirt. The passenger door had popped open, Pearl fell out, and the door slammed shut without Earl hearing it. By the next shopping trip, Earl had hearing aids.