Love and Rice Pudding

Snow twirled and danced at the windows like a ghostly marionette, void of facial features and manipulated by the invisible strings of a Nor- East wind. The snow piled up outside, falling silently to the ground, like a million whispers lost on deaf ears.

Letty Shaw shifted her feeble body in the ancient wingback chair and gazed from the mesmerizing show at the window, to the four, small pine logs near the fireplace. She calculated roughly, the hours of warmth she would have before the wood was gone.

Staring into the flames of the fire, Letty pursed her lips, furrowed her brow and tried desperately to remember what month it was. Using the raging Nor-Easter as a gage, she thought it might be January because that was the most likely time in winter a storm like this comes to call, as her daddy use to say.

"How long you been gone Daddy?" "I know it's been awhile, but I forget cuz I can't remember much of anythin anymore," Letty said aloud to the stillness of the room. She added in a hushed tone, "I don't remember the last time I saw another human being out here...been months."

The pine burning in the fire snapped loudly and spewed a searing ember onto the floor in front of the fireplace. Letty groaned as she struggled out of the chair. With her slippered foot, she tapped the ember gently, leaving another black smudge on the worn floor.

While she was up, Letty carefully added the last four logs to the fire because the old house was fast falling victim to the bitter cold of the Nor Easter.

Pulling a neatly folded, wool blanket, from a cedar chest in the corner of the room; Letty wrapped herself up tightly, ignoring the musty odor, trapped by time in the abrasive wool. She groaned again as she plopped back into the chair.

Letty was not hungry, but she thought about food and could not recall if she had eaten that day. A burst of unexpected recollection jarred a rice pudding recipe from the confines of her stagnant memory and Letty smiled warmly.

Rice pudding was Daddy's favorite and he sure was excited when she surprised him with her special treat. Sometimes, she added raisins and oh, my, how he thought that was something. Letty smiled again feeling deeply content as she closed her heavy eyes.

The house was dark now, except for shadowy light, cast by the glowing coals in the fireplace. Letty Shaw died peacefully that night, wrapped in a musty wool blanket, warm with memories of rice pudding and a father's love.