Appartition

You'll remember at the last place, I saw that elderly couple and thought they might be apparitions. I think now they may have been real people after all. I saw them often and a couple of times she waved to me. And they bought things at the store. But I've seen a different apparition since I've moved here and this time I think it's for real.

I've seen her twice. She's tall and very slender. She wears a black parka with the hood pulled so low I can't see her face and a thin, brown paisley ankle length skirt of the sort made in India that one might buy at the retro hippie store.

She walks slowly, a toe's length at a time. Her forward motion is almost imperceptible. The first time I saw her, I was coming home from the grocery store. She was in the tall grass near the intersection before the sidewalks started up again. It was cold. I almost turned around to offer her a ride. But I didn't. I thought she might be doing a walking meditation.

I saw her again yesterday. I was sitting on the porch listening to the wind chimes. She was across the street. She seemed to come out of nowhere, but maybe I just didn't notice until her shoe chanced on a bit of gravel. I watched as she disappeared from view behind the big shrub that tells me the temperature. I waited a long time for her to come out the other side but she didn't. I finally got up and looked. She had made her way to the far corner of the synagogue parking lot. She disappeared behind the telephone pole.

I mean she really disappeared. She stepped out of view behind the pole and never came out. There's a big stone wall that runs the length of that lot and well beyond. There's thick shrubbery between the lot and the neighbor's driveway. No way to get through there without making some noise.

I ran upstairs to check from the front windows. It's a different angle with a wider view. She just wasn't there. [graphic]