Epilogue.

Well, I guess Mrs. Jenny is feeling better, at least physically. Although, she's still kinda cranky 'cuz her kitchen sprung a leak. But she's asked forgiveness for the little cliffhanger doodah she gave us for Saturday Centus the past couple weeks (what was it Rick Santorum said about that forgiveness thing?).

Anyway, I digress. In the same breath she asked for forgiveness, she threw us another little zinger...an epilogue to our cliffhangers....soooooo... if you missed parts 1 and 2, you can read them (complete with photos) by clicking on Part 1 and Part 2... or you can read the text immediately following this paragraph...OR, if you remember the story, you can just  jump down to where it says EPILOGUE below.

The Mountain Road

I drove in silence, replaying that conversation with RT from just a little while ago. Old wounds for each of us, collective but separate, had been revisited.

Climbing over the steep and winding pass with its towering walls, I glanced a hawk gracefully landing on a lofty roadside perch where, likely, an egg was safely nestled. 

I made a mental note of the storm looming ahead, reminding myself to be extra cautious on the treacherous road.

Rounding a corner, something caught my eye. Hanging off a cliff ahead of me, a single tree, barely clinging to the stark rock. Strong. Beautiful. Independent.

Suddenly, my mind snapped back to attention…

A buck.

Time too swift to feel. Tumbling. Rolling. Seemingly without end. Life eerily on hold.

Caught in a tangle of trees. Crawling from the car.

Dangling by fingertips high above a rushing stream. Thoughts of dying racing through my head. 

“No!,” shouting to the air. “It’s not going to end like this! No! I’m better than this.  Strong! Beautiful! Independent!”

A soft voice. “Are you ok? You were yelling.”

Opening my eyes. Looking around. Closing them again, reopening them slowly to check my surroundings. 

Sun shining through a window, RT smiling down at me snuggled in the nest of our bed.

It’s real. It’s morning. I’m safe. 

Only a dream. It was only a dream.

EPILOGUE.

I luxuriated in bed a few minutes longer, thoughts of the day ahead tiptoeing through my sleepy mind, barely interrupted by the ringing phone. I heard RT answer it in his office.

My twin sister and I were planning to spend the afternoon together. My mind lazily drifted from thought to thought. What could we do that would be fun?

“No! No! Oh please say it isn’t so!,” he cried to some unknown listener at the other end. And then his rapid footsteps coming down the hall.

I barely heard her name..."Sammi"..he could hardly speak the words. "... driving home over the pass last night." Something about a deer. "… just past that tree you always notice. You know the spot"... my head pounding. "...road...slick ...storm…” 

Sobbing, he could no longer force the words to come. He didn’t need to. I knew. It was my nightmare all over again…but this time it was real.


Head over to Mrs. Jenny's to see how the other Centusians finished off their cliffhangers.