Episode 31

Reflections from the life and times of Mr. Smith. I was at an abandoned farm house in the middle of Kansas. Or was it abandoned? The door had not opened. So I walked around to a window. I peered through the dim glass. My nose left a small smudge on it. I stepped back and kicked in the glass .My foot hurt. A lot. I heard a scream. And I ran into the house. There was an old lady, sitting next to the fireplace in a rocking chair, screaming her head off. I asked her what was wrong, but she just kept screaming. I tried to calm her down by patting her on the head. She screamed she wished she was dead. Finally I gave up and sat down. Surprisingly she stopped screaming. I asked her what was wrong, and she sobbed “I thought you were trying to rob me!” I explained how I was a traveler just looking for a place to spend the night. She said I could sleep in the barn. I apologized for the broken window. She said I could fix it in the morning. I stumbled out into the dark night. I followed a rope that was strung between the house and the barn. I laid down on what looked like a small bed. I think it was a feeding trough. In the morning, I woke to the smell of farm life. The old lady was standing around tossing chicken feed to the cows. I asked her what she was doing. She just stared at me. And I thought I was weird. She invited me in for breakfast. We had some fried chicken, boiled in elephant gizzards (whatever that is.) I nailed plywood over her broken window and gave her enough money to pay for a new one. After apologizing profusely, she told me to just leave. I got in my car, and I went far.
Thus ends this week’s reflections. And then my mirror image disappeared.