And as MISSY walked by him, she picked up the very pungent aroma of roses and spice...
A rather BEAUTIFUL smell actually.
She wondered where it was coming from exactly...
Was he wearing COLOGNE?
This really old man?
No...No...
And then she noticed a GARLAND of sorts around the man''s wrist...
A garland of roses and cloves...
''How strange,'' she thought...
That this very, very old man,
sitting here COMPLETELY ALONE in the park...
was wearing a flower bracelet,
hmmm...
She continued on by...
BUT SOMETHING MADE HER STOP...
For some unknown reason...
MISSY needed to KNOW everything about this man...
She turned back to him...
(it appeared that he hadn''t even noticed her)
and she asked him if he''d mind some company on the bench...
He looked up at her from the MOST SPARKLING, BLUE eyes...
Eyes FAR younger than his years...
and she noticed that he wore a VERY fine, cashmere sweater...
in the most beautiful shade of blue...exactly matching his eyes..
She thought, in passing, that he must have been quite the
GORGEOUS GUY back in his day...
He nodded to her that sitting with him would be fine...
mmm...
The smell of the flowers and the spice were heady...
wafting through the air at this close distance...
The two, (Missy and the Very Old Man),
sat in silence for quite some time...
NOT an awkward silence though...not whatsoever...
more of a SAFE, SERENE silence...
Missy wondered at her odd desire to be next to this guy...
this "GREAT GRANDFATHERLY FIGURE"
He turned to her, looking now directly at her from those endless, ''other-worldly'' eyes...
He said, "Your father sent me..."
Her tears began to form...
Her father had died some 6 years ago...
and she pined for him so...
for his wisdom...his humor...his LOVE...
This man on the park bench was an angel of some sort...
sent to give her a message...
of THIS she was certain...
He continued....
"He wants you to know that YOU ARE SAFE...that he has your back..."
"He wants to tell you that, NO MATTER how things seem to be SPIRALING out of control...
that you MUST continue to BELIEVE...
...in GOD...in YOURSELF...in TRIUMPH..."
"He wants to WISH you, his beloved daughter, the HAPPIEST of BIRTHDAYS"
Missy was in AWE...in SHOCK...
tears pouring down her face...hands trembling...
The old man took the flowered bracelet off of his wrist and placed it on hers...
And then...
He was gone...