Kristi was walking through the cemetery when she saw a shaking form kneeling by a grave. She took a step closer and noticed that the person was crying – a guy by the sound of it. She started to approach him then suddenly the sobs came to a stop. Thinking that he’d stand up, she took a step back breaking a branch in the process. Startled, she turned around and ran towards the exit, not looking back to see the person’s reaction.
When she got to the gates, she stopped to catch her breath. She couldn’t help wondering about the boy, man or whatever he was. Who was he? The question that bugged her most was: ‘could I have helped him?’
Slowly she made her way to the 24 hour grocery she’d seen two roads over. Her father would be very worried about her if she did not get home soon. Walking around town at 10 PM is what he would call testing god-she called it having faith. God would never let anything bad happen to her. The image of the boy slash man slash crying figure kept on flashing in her mind’s eye.
“Father, ” she thought. “I know these days I’ve been far from you but my faith hasn’t deteriorated. At least I don’t think it has. You said blessed are those who cry because they will be comforted. Today, a while ago, I saw a child of yours suffering from a broken heart. I know that you wouldn’t let me see this for no reason but right now, Lord, I need to know how you want me to help him and if you want me to help him. It is my one desire to follow your will. Reveal it to me and it will be done.”
She never said amen at the end of her prayers. It made her feel she’d just closed her connection with god albeit temporarily. A bobble of giddiness rose up in her. She had a feeling something was going to change her life and soon.
She kept walking till she got to the grocery store. She glanced around her and saw a kitten sitting by a pile of boxes looking hungry making a mental note to get something for it, she entered the store. The air smelled like a mix of bakery and a leather shoe. Wrinkling her nose at the comparison, she tried to remember what she’d gone there to buy. Milk, flour, eggs, icing sugar, food coloring, vanilla essence - something was missing. She picked up the basket and walked around, hoping that seeing the item would trigger her memory.
She picked out all the items she could remember and walked around the store twice to figure out what she’d forgotten. giving up, she walked towards the cash register. She crashed into a hard body. Stepping back, she looked up at the person’s face. A pale guy of no more than eighteen stared back down at her. His slightly red eyes made her identify him as the same guy from the cemetery. The hazel colour of his eyes made her think of the cat she’d seen outside. The cat! Cat food - that’s what she’d forgotten.
“Hold this,” she said thrusting the basket at the guy. He was so startled that he held on to it.
Trying to figure out what had happened, Caleb stood in the middle of the store holding on to a basket given to him by a strange girl with bright red hair. The girl came back with a sheepish smile on her face.
“Hi! Sorry, I forgot the cat food,”she said holding up the bag.
“It’s okay, ” he said, surprised by his tone it was the first time in a long while that he hadn’t spoken in a harsh manner. Kristi stared at him all the sirens in her head started ringing. Say something to him, said a voice in her head that she hadn’t heard in a while.
“You look like you’ve been sitting on something wet, ” she said, eyeing his damp jeans.
Caleb was still too shaken by his realization to respond. Kristi wasn’t deterred. “I get like that all the time. You’re not very talkative are you? Oh well, bye then stranger, ” she said with a smile and a wave as she turned to go pay for her groceries.
Caleb stared after her and shook his head. It’d had been a while since anyone had spoken to him that way - all happy and void of pity. Forgetting what he’d gone to buy, he turned and left the store. Kristi stared after him and decided that she was going to do her absolute best to do God’s will in this case, to help the guy through whatever it was that he was going through.
After leaving the store, she stopped to feed the cat and skipped all the way home. “God, I’ve got a feeling that today was my turning point. Nothing is going to be the same.” she said out loud. The voice in her head answered laughing. “Pretty much.”
