Time to Live Again - more except

Rose backed up and bumped the refrigerator. "Ouch! Darn it." She hurt bad enough without making it worse. "Who the hell are you?" Darn, it sounded like–


"It's me. Don't you recognize me?"

Rose peered at the shadow. "Recognize you, I can hardly see you." She rubbed her eyes. This was ridiculous.

"He helped you, Rose. You could have invited him in." The voice went on.

"I didn't ask for any help. I could have managed on my own. Besides, I don't like the feelings he arouses in me." Somehow she couldn't help answering aloud. She shook her head. Good grief, now she was talking to herself.

"Why not? Frank used to stir those same feelings. Quit acting like you're dead. Wake up, live. You've become a recluse. There's a big world out there that you used to love. You enjoyed people. The man was only trying to be friendly." The voice didn't let up.

Something about the voice sounded like her sister, Mary. But Mary had been dead for two years. She wished the voice would leave her alone. She poured a cup of coffee and pulled her sweater tight, went into the living room, set her coffee on the table and turned on the television. Winter weather advisories crawled across the screen. She glanced out the window. Already, a thick blanket of white covered the trees and bushes. She used to love snowstorms, but it seemed like ages ago.

Memory of when her kids were little, and she went outside and helped build snowmen or had snowball fights made her smile. Those were the days. They had loved the first big snowfall. But time passes and kids grow up. She sighed. Grow up and move away. Now snow was nothing more than a nuisance. She hated driving in it, but at least the road crews kept the main roads pretty clear. They even salted and plowed her street more frequently than normal.

A thumping noise against the house interrupted Rose's thoughts. "What in the world?" She got up and limped to the door, rubbing her hip. Already it hurt.

Just as she pulled the door open, four little pairs of legs raced around the bushes into the next yard.

Time to Live Again is available at http:/redrosepublishing.com or http:/amazon.com