‘We danced in that field’ he thought feeling the ache in his soul become a twinging pain. Her hair blew softly in the wind and he jerked out of thought. “Get down honey, they can’t see you, not yet.” She sat quietly, her eyes fixed in a distant stare. He thought that maybe she was remembering the same thing. He put a blanket around her and began to stare at the field again. The pain in his heart grew agonizing again and he grimaced as tears popped out of his eyes.
“If only they knew what they were destroying. If only they could feel this pain too.” The pain rose again as he remembered making love to her in the soft grass hidden by wildflowers. It was the most passionate love making they had ever shared, but now the bulldozers were rolling up to the field. Slowly, one by one they seemed to be forming a circle.The groundbreaking was a big deal. The new superstore was being built there touting jobs and low priced state of the art shopping for all. A low heart wrenching moan escaped him and now his tears covered his face. “That’s our place baby, how can they live with themselves.” he sobbed.
She continued to stare out the window looking much more like a babushka then a 25 year old goddess. Beneath the blanket was a small face with green eyes that once exploded with life, and red hair that rivaled the sun in it’s brilliance. Her body was slender and fit but also teasingly voluptuous. In his eyes, perfection was a word meant solely for her. He grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face him. Her eyes were now empty and her face all but disappeared in her fiery hair. He screamed through a closed mouth and squirmed violently against his pain.
Now the CEO of the company was arriving in his shimmering black limo, a familiar sight about town the past couple of days. He wrapped her more tightly in the blanket and whispered to her “Our moment is at hand baby, get ready to dance again.” When the limo stopped the driver staunchly walked to the rear door and opened it. Raucous horn music began to play. The CEO stepped out and began robotically smiling and waving.
Anxiety wracked the man, knowing their moment had come he sprung out of the car. He ran to her door and opened it. She couldn’t walk any longer so discarding the blanket her picked her up and carried her slamming the door behind him. He walked nonchalantly to the center of the ring the bulldozers had formed. The crowd was surprised. A man carrying a woman to the center of the field? Was this part of the ceremony? Then the man spoke “I would like to say something, My girl and I have been coming to this field every Sunday for the past 2 years, and before you destroy our paradise like a greedy whore, we would like to dance once more.”
The CEO was visibly shaken but conceded with a nod. He began to dance with her maneuvering her as he had before, laughing in the sunlight, swirling in the breeze. The crowd was now buzzing with comments and finally a man shouted “That woman is dead!” The man and woman stopped dancing and the gathered crowd fell silent. Then the man spoke again “On Friday, this woman who formed everything I lived for, died giving birth to our dead son.”
A scream erupted from a woman bystander as another man vomited. “I only wanted one more dance in our field and now that we’ve had it, there is only one task that remains.” said the man. He took out a lighter and lit her skirt and his pants. He had obviously dowsed them in kerosene for the fire engulfed them instantly. People scrambled for cellphones and distant sirens rang out almost instantly. The CEO was already a set of taillights on the horizon and people stood mesmerized by the 10 foot flame that raged before them.
One little boy without looking away from the inferno pulled at his mom’s sleeve and said “They’re still dancing!” Silence broke as they all watched trails of fire licking the grass. The fire spun and sashayed until the fire trucks arrived to a smoldering heap of flesh. Then as the boy and his mother moved from the field the boy looked up at his mom and said “I hope someone loves me that much one day.” The mother replied “So do I honey, so do I.”
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