The night was a stormy one, as dark as the bottom of a deep well. The only break in the black sky outside my window was the flashes of lightning that lit up the entire area. The wind was a steady drone and the crash of the thunder sounds like explosions just outside......
"Damn, that really sucks." As I stand up from the computer and walk around the room. "Why the hell do I have such an impossible time describing something right in front of my eyes?" Looking back through the window I can see the storm that I can't describe. A black velvet sky made even more frightening by the occasional flashes of bright light from the lightning. The flashes only make the trees and surrounding land seem barren and dead. Giving the entire countryside the look of a neglected cemetery.
Pacing around the study I can't seem to capture the magic that filled me with my other writing. I couldn't seem to find the old inspiration. I refuse to believe it was her, how could it be. Amy was never very supportive of my writing, neither stories nor music. How could she be the thing that sparks me. She was the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes upon. I was happy for the first time in my adult life. The sex was incredible and she was always ready to play. Anything I wanted she seemed to know, and would do, without me even saying a word. Yet, the rest of the time we were together was difficult at best. I wasn't really what she wanted, I found this out the hard way. It seems that she spent as much time pleasing my friends and neighbors as me. Then one day she was just gone. I haven't written anything worth a shit since.
Finally after spending another night beating my head against the wall, I decided it was time for some sleep. Going upstairs to my bedroom, I can't help but admire this great old Victorian house. I love all the wood and stained glass. The wood for the interior was all from the forest around the house, the stained glass was all handmade. It had always been a great place to write and think. Now.....
One last look out the window into the night and I am taken by surprise. The moon peered at me from between the moving clouds. it was the only spot in the sky that wasn't black and barren. Right off the lower point of the crescent moon was one of the brightest stars that I had ever seen. I was given a necklace that looked just like this from a girl in school that was my first love. She was kind of a flower-child type and had a thought for everything that she did. She told me that this was what she saw when she looked at me. I never really understood, but I had never stopped wearing it since she gave it to me. She had lost her life when a drunk driver crossed the centerline and hit her little car. I loved her so much and I miss her every day. I have never told anyone about her, especially Amy, the one that just left. She would have considered her competition. Dead or alive.
Her name was Renee' but she liked to be called Sunshine, and that's what she was, the sunshine that brightened any day. I decided this was some kind of omen, and never being one to tempt fate I decided to play that little childish game...
"Starlight, star bright... first star I see tonight.... I wish I may, I wish I might...... have this wish I wish tonight.....," I finished the wish off with, "I wish I could find my inspiration again, I am lost without it...... I love you and miss you, Sunshine." When I lay down I felt very peaceful, despite the storm and my lousy life. I slipped off to sleep very quickly.
As much as I hated it, today was errand day. Time to shop and pay the bills. I went into town and took care of the payments and then went to the grocery. As I was shopping, someone kept getting my attention but they always seemed to be just turning the corner when I looked. When I got to the next aisle they were already gone. This feeling followed me all day. Everywhere I went I felt like I was being watched. Rather unnerving. The grocery, post office, gas station, drug store, bank, the feeling never left me. On my way out of the bank, of course not paying allot of attention. I run smack into someone on the sidewalk. Knocking her to the ground, packages everywhere. I had knocked down a beautiful young woman. All I can do is stare at her until she says, 'Don't just stand there asshole.' Like a slap in the face, I jump at her words.
"I am so sorry, I didn't see you.... I wasn't watching...... are you all right?"
"I think I'll be ok, only bruised my pride." She gets up as I start to pick up her packages, "Are you always a million miles away?"
"No and I really am sorry. I usually don't knock down people the first time I see them."
"I see, you only knock down your friends?"
I pick-up the last of her packages. I really want to laugh at what she said, but all I could do was look at her and wish I could just disappear. She looked so nice, I wanted to say something really witty. "I..... ummmm... I'm... ah.... Jesse....... uhhh."
"Hello Jesse Uhhh" she offers her hand with a little tease of a smile. "My name is Amanda. It is very nice to meet you, all things considered. Just watch where you are going so no one gets hurt...ok?"
"Sure... I promise."
As she turns and walks away I want to yell out, "please come back," but the words just stick in my throat. I suddenly feel tingly all over, what the hell is going on. Just before she turns around the corner she looks back my way and says, "By the way, my friends all call me Sunshine." Then she blows me a kiss. I stand there again with my mouth open. When I get enough of my wits back I run to the corner. She's nowhere in site.
I spend the rest of the day looking all over this damn town without any luck. As night falls and another storm begins to brew, I find myself back at the old house wishing I had said something, anything to make her stay. I also haven't been this excited about anything since Amy was here, maybe even before, when I was still just a kid. Throwing together something quick to eat, and afterwards giving up and just prepare to go to bed. Lately that pretty much has been my routine. I really don't even feel like even sitting down at my computer to write, all I do is sit and stare at the screen anyway.
When I start up the stairs toward my room I hear a soft knock at the door. Just barely, since the storm is now going full bore outside. When I open the door, there is a small figure standing in the dark on my porch. As they step into the light a silly little smile creeps across my lips.....
It's her, from today at the bank, my knock down victim. "Please, step inside, get out of the storm."
As she does and turns around to face me, she also recognizes me as her assailant from earlier. "Well, what do ya know, thank you for the shelter. I slid off the road down by your driveway entrance and got stuck in the mud."
It was only then that I noticed she was soaked and covered in mud. "Hang on, I'll be right back." I went into the closet at the top of the stairs and got a couple of towels and a thick silky comforter. When I got back to the door I handed her the towels and said, "Here, please use these to dry off a bit."
After she had dried up and wrapped the other towel around her hair, I stepped up and wrapped the comforter around her. "I know this may sound like some old movie, but you really do need to get out of those wet clothes. At the top of the stairs there is a linen closet, grab a towel and go into the bathroom. It's the first door on the left of the closet. There is an robe on the back of the door. If you want, bring down your clothes and I'll put them in the washer for you. I'll call a wrecker to get you out of that ditch too. And don't worry, you're safe here.. nothing to be concerned about."
"Thank you, I don't want to be any trouble."
"No trouble at all, after all I do owe you some nice treatment, considering this afternoon's attack." At this she smiles, and I see why she is called Sunshine, the room lights up all around her. Then she turns and hurries up the stairs.
Picking up the phone I get nothing, no dial tone, nothing. These storms always knock out the phone lines.... but for the first time I was grateful. I walked up stairs to tell her about the phone and noticed that she had left the bathroom door open. Not wanting to seem like some kind of peeping pervert I start back down stairs, when she calls from the bathroom.
"Jesse, do you mind if I jump in the shower and clean up a bit?"
I hurried down farther so she wouldn't know I had come upstairs and hollered back. "Of course, go ahead..... do you have enough towels?" She had remembered my name, I would have hoped for an invitation to join her... but she remembered my name.
"Well, I could probably use another," was the answer. Then I heard the water start and stood there listening for a few minutes, hearing the shower door open and close I knew that she was inside the stall. I had grabbed a towel and started toward the bathroom. Slowly looking around the corner into the room, to see if she was inside the shower. I could see her outline in the stall door. She was just starting to lather up as I stepped into the doorway. Watching her hands slide slowly up and down her body. She paid extra long attention to her breasts. Then it dawned on me that I was doing just what I had told her not to be worried about. I suddenly felt like a real letch. I set the towel down on the hamper inside the door and quickly made my way back downstairs to the den. While I waited for her to finish her shower, I decided to start a fire in the fireplace. When I had it going pretty good I sat back against the couch. Looking back toward the door to the den I see an amazing sight. Sunshine is standing there, framed by the doorway, and the fire is making her glow. She has on one of Amy's silk robes, white, very short cut. She was truly beautiful.
"Is the robe ok? I found it in the closet, inside the bedroom, next to the bath. I was never much for terrycloth, she smiles..... I have my clothes like you said." Taking her hands from behind her, she holds out the wet muddy clothes she had been wearing.
