Under the Ice

under the ice
This is not a photo of a person under ice, although it sure looks like it.

Such a pretty girl...How old did you say? 

Not sure who she is, what her name is, twelve years old.

Do they know yet what happened?  

They?  You mean the detectives?

Who else would I mean?  Yes, the detectives.  Them.

They don't know. Some kid found her in the creek, under the ice.

She....Vicky? The girl in the ice?... That's her name, right?--Vicky, and must have floated downstream...

       Then the ice froze over her...Vicky, yeah that's her name...her folks had waited for so long...

How are Ken and Sheila--Vicky's parents, right? holding up?

Okay, I guess. Can't look at them.  We're taking food in for the family.

  The church always takes fried chicken and peach pie. For her, what's her name again? Vicky? That's the name, right?

I wonder if or when they'll ever figure out...find out what I did? God, I hope not.  I didn't mean to...the car swerved..Vicky... just appeared and...

You must, you have to tell them what happened.

      She was so scared...at the end...Vicky was crying

 She was scared before that...you could have saved her...Vicky would still be alive.

       Father Paul, I wasn't thinking...
     
Time to own up, Tim...Time to give Ken and Sheila peace. Vicky. Time for you confess. Time for you seek forgiveness.

       Scared...so scared.  I am so scared.

So was she, Tim. So was she.

Whether it is Covid Virus or any other disastrous event, nothing nothing is more horrible and evil than what happens to some other Vicky, a little girl playing one moment then dead the next. 

Darkest Hour is just before the Dawn

Ode to a Platitude

Karen growled and muttered an assortment of foul words in her car, driving over speed limit.  Her visit to Mom and Grandma had not provided the affirmation and comfort she had hoped it would.

Bill had packed up his stuff in the night and was gone before she woke up.  Note:  I’m outta here, bitch…and the last word was written in bold letters. Now, Karen needed to share her pain.

She had been in Mom’s kitchen, sipping on peach herbal tea.  Mom was kneading bread, taking loaf after loaf from the oven.  These would go to the homeless shelter.  Grandma was sitting quietly while knitting baby blankets for preemies at the local hospital.

Karen had been trying tell of her woes and ask for advice when the litany began.

“You know, honey, the darkest hour is just before the dawn. You’ll do fine.” This one came from Mom.

“Such is life,” Grandma added. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!” She dropped a stitch, but caught it time.

Mouth open, Karen had looked from one face to the other, listening with disbelief.

“Yes, sweetie. God has a plan for you…you just don’t know it yet!...and then…It is what it is…Time heals all wounds…Life doesn’t give you things you can’t handle…It could be worse…It wasn’t meant to be…There are plenty more fish in the sea…Everything happens for a reason..

When Karen’s grandma said “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen”…

Karen had leaped to her feet and raced to her car.  She skidded out the driveway, narrowly missed the mailbox.  This found her flying along the freeway with profanity tailing after her.  Her thoughts were not kind.  If she ever heard one more mindless platitude, she would vomit.

Source

The italicized and underlined phrase is from Wednesday Words, where bloggers can play and experiment with the words or prompt.

These words or prompts are provided each week by Elephant's Child and fellow blogger River

Many thanks to Delores, who created this idea.  This is a re-post from 2014. I hear and read those cursed gems all the time.

Chocolate on an Icy Day

Abuelita

Violin music scratched from Miss Violet Ramsey’s record player, volume turned up high, pouring music directly at her head. Her deaf ears scarcely heard even a note, which did not seem to be a problem.

By the window where Miss Violet sat, she stroked her calico kitten and sipped hot cocoa topped with melted marshmallow.  "How about we have another, Kitty?" as she set a fresh cup next to six empties. It had been a long cold day, and six cups were nothing.

Violet had barely taken a sip, when she cried out, “Oh, look, Kitty!  There’s another one!”  Even with her glasses steamed and fogged, Miss Violet did not miss a man  in a dark overcoat as he rushed by on Albany Lane, now a very slippery street.  

When he tumbled and cursed, Miss Violet giggled and marked another hash mark on her writing tablet. “That makes 13 today!” Marshmallow spittle splattered onto Kitty, who was not in the least bothered by it.  

Her joy was disturbing on so many levels.

This is a re-post from Nov. 29, 2012.  The italicized underlined words are from a Wednesday Word challenge, established by Delores, who stepped away from blogging. Delores handed the torch off to Elephant's Child and Drifting through Life.  New word challenges can be found at their sites.