It was morning, sometime in late April. I remember because it was the week after my grandson's wedding. That was a beautiful wedding--expensive, too, I wager. Just thinking about it, makes me smile. (I could walk then, you know. It's true. I've only been in this goddamn wheelchair 3 months or so. I'll get used to it, I suppose...) But you wanted to hear about that day. Well, like I told you, it was an April morning. The sunlight was dancing on the dew that lingered on the grass, there were even a few kids out on the road--how I wish they hadn't paved it--but there was something that just wasn't right. Not right at all. When I got up that morning, my joints were aching, like they do, but that didn't seem so unusual. The news was on the television set when I came into the room. But that was unusual, you see. That old television set hadn't worked for thirty years. And the news was in black and white.
Oh, I'll bet you're right. I bet it is a black and white set. I plumb forgot. So used to seeing these fancy colorized television sets at my daughter's house.
Anyway, even if the news was supposed to be in black and white, they said that the date was January 15, and I thought that was kind of funny, because surely I couldn't be that confused. I'm not that old, am I? But that wasn't the only funny thing that morning. I went out to the porch, like I told you, and I watched the kids heading along to school, and I watched the sun on the grass, but I also watched that tree, the one over yonder, just past the shed. It was dancing in the wind, only the strange thing was, none of the other trees were dancing in the wind. Just that one. And then I felt something cold on my leg. I looked down and what I saw, well, it just terrified me! To this day, I don't even like to think about it. When you look down at your leg expecting to see something and you end up seeing something entirely different, well, it just scares the bejeesus out of you, it does. So when I looked down--
Oh! I almost forgot to tell you! A week before then, there was thi--
Sorry?
Yes, yes, I'll get to that.
Like I was saying, not a week earlier, there was some salesman come by my house. He was all dressed up in a fancy suit and a briefcase. I thought he wanted to sell me the Bible or something. Hah! Mythology's all it is. But imagine my surprise: it was my son gone fifteen years! He came to see his momma, all grown up, all fancified. And by the looks of it, not doing too badly either. So we we--
Of course it's important. I don't talk abou things if they're not important. Stop pestering me, for chrissakes.
Oh forget it. You're not worth talking to anyway. All you damn reporters, you're all the same. But I'll tell you this. I did see something that day, and the rumors are true. I may be a batty old woman, and I may not be a sharp as I was 30 years ago, but I know what I saw. And even if I didn't, I got proof right here in this very house. And you, Mr. Fancy Pants with your goddamn tape recorder, you will never. Ever. See it.
Good day, sir.
Oh, I'll bet you're right. I bet it is a black and white set. I plumb forgot. So used to seeing these fancy colorized television sets at my daughter's house.
Anyway, even if the news was supposed to be in black and white, they said that the date was January 15, and I thought that was kind of funny, because surely I couldn't be that confused. I'm not that old, am I? But that wasn't the only funny thing that morning. I went out to the porch, like I told you, and I watched the kids heading along to school, and I watched the sun on the grass, but I also watched that tree, the one over yonder, just past the shed. It was dancing in the wind, only the strange thing was, none of the other trees were dancing in the wind. Just that one. And then I felt something cold on my leg. I looked down and what I saw, well, it just terrified me! To this day, I don't even like to think about it. When you look down at your leg expecting to see something and you end up seeing something entirely different, well, it just scares the bejeesus out of you, it does. So when I looked down--
Oh! I almost forgot to tell you! A week before then, there was thi--
Sorry?
Yes, yes, I'll get to that.
Like I was saying, not a week earlier, there was some salesman come by my house. He was all dressed up in a fancy suit and a briefcase. I thought he wanted to sell me the Bible or something. Hah! Mythology's all it is. But imagine my surprise: it was my son gone fifteen years! He came to see his momma, all grown up, all fancified. And by the looks of it, not doing too badly either. So we we--
Of course it's important. I don't talk abou things if they're not important. Stop pestering me, for chrissakes.
Oh forget it. You're not worth talking to anyway. All you damn reporters, you're all the same. But I'll tell you this. I did see something that day, and the rumors are true. I may be a batty old woman, and I may not be a sharp as I was 30 years ago, but I know what I saw. And even if I didn't, I got proof right here in this very house. And you, Mr. Fancy Pants with your goddamn tape recorder, you will never. Ever. See it.
Good day, sir.
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