Woman With Wings

I remember the first time I saw her; I was bewitched by the way she entered the room. She was wearing a long coat, unbuttoned revealing a stunning knee-length dress and a light blue blouse. When she flicked her brunette hair to one shoulder, I was in love. But when I saw what was she had hidden beneath her coat, I was struck dumb. My mind was and still is blown. If I tell you about what I saw, you’d probably think I was delusional. Hell, I might even agree with you.

Okay, my name is Gunther Garblenheimer, but you can call me Sonny. It’s easier to remember and is the name I’ve got printed on my hack license. If you actually take time to read the information on my license, you will see I have brown hair and brown eyes. I’m five foot nine inches and I’m twenty-eight years old. What it does not tell you is that I’m a college dropout and I have not had a steady relationship since I dropped out. It also doesn’t tell you that I live in a tiny flat on Main Street where my only window looks out over an alley where junkies and winos call home and I have adopted a cat that called the alley his home.

She was waiting on the corner in the rain. Raising her hand to hail me, I drove over to rescue her from a very troublesome neighborhood. As she got in to the cab, I wondered what she was doing in this part of town. A classy woman like she was had no business being in this part of town to begin with.

“Good evening.” Her smoky voice added to her appeal, “I need a ride to the airport.”

“That’s quite haul.” I shrugged.

“I am aware of that.” She shot me a harsh look as she put her handbag over her shoulder. “Believe me, if I had another option, I’d be on my way.”

“Customer’s always right.” I put on my best professional smile. When she closed the door, I put the cab into gear and drove away from the curb. I could see her in my rearview mirror as she squinted to read my license. I smiled when I saw her.

The airport was over thirty miles away and would add up to a hefty fare, but she appeared to be someone who could afford it. I hate to pass judgments like that based on just her appearance, but after four years as a cab driver, I have developed that sense about customers. I have been robbed at gunpoint a couple of times, so I have developed this sense as way to ensure my survival. One of my former coworkers got shot when he picked up a fare one evening last year. At the time it was a wake-up call to me.

“Weather is a bit dicey, eh?” I attempt to engage her in a conversation.

“Yes, dreadful.” She grimaces.

I wanted to ask her why she ventured into this part of town. I know about this neighborhood, because I live close to the place where I picked her up.

“If you are wondering why I was at that corner, I’m afraid I can’t tell you.” She was applying lipstick, “I had business in this part of town.”

“I wasn’t going to ask.” I shook my head as I pulled up to a red light.

“No, but I could see it in your face when I opened the door.” She pressed her lips together.

If I had developed my sense of sizing up a fare, she had seemed to developed the ability to read my mind. I found this a bit unsettling, but I kept my mouth shut. There have been times when keeping your mouth shut is sometimes your best option.

As I turned on Main Street, I knew I still had to get on the expressway. Silence seemed to be the fare of the day.

“It’s been a long day.” She said turning her head to look out the window. I nodded, “I was supposed to visit this elderly woman.”

“Oh?” I shrugged hoping to induce a conversation that would end the uneasy silence.

“It’s what I do.” A smile ran across her face. It was a relief to see she was feeling comfortable in the back seat of my cab.

“What is it you do, ma’am?”

“Oh, I can’t tell you.” She shook her head, “You wouldn’t believe me anyway.”

“Try me, you never know.” I shrug.

“No.” She shakes her head.

After an awkward pause, she asks, “So, how long have you been driving cab?”

I hate that question, because it will bring up some unpleasant memories.

“I guess it’s been about five or six years.” I answer doing my best to be as vague as possible. As she has made it very clear that there are things she doesn’t wish to talk about, I also have things I do not want to talk about.

“Do you like it?” She leans forward. I could feel her breath on the back of my neck. Temptation made my heart pound against my ribs, but I did not dare act upon my desire.

Do I like it? What kind of question is that?

Sweat dripped down the bridge of my nose. My hands were trembling. I had trouble taking a breath. My heart was beating against my sternum.

“Am I making you nervous?” She asks in a whisper of a voice.

“Lady, I don’t-“

“Call me Meridith.” She batted her eyes.

“Meridith, you seem to by quite mysterious to me.” I admitted.

“Oh, I see.” She shrugged a shoulder. “What is it that makes me so?”

“You are quite striking.” I glanced at her in the mirror.

“Thank you.” She smiled.

“But you can’t talk about why you were in the neighborhood where I picked you up.”

“I told you, I had to visit an elderly woman.” She tilted her head.

“Why?”

“I can’t tell you.” She glanced out the window as raindrops raced down the glass.

“Why not?” I sniffed.

“Because it is none of your affair.” She tiled her head the other way.

“I just think by keeping secrets, you are hiding something.” I reasoned.

“You may be right, but no matter I cannot tell you why I was there.” She put her gloved fist to her chin.

Puddles were forming in the gutters near the storm grates where fallen leaves had gathered to prevent the rainwater from draining. As I drove, my tires splashed through them. Weather like this always depressed me. It reminded me of when I rode a cab off of campus when I dropped out of college. My father told me that I would regret it and I did. A year later, he passed away from a heart attack. It was raining the night I got the call from my sister informing me that he had passed away.

“Why did you drop out of college?” She asked from out of nowhere. I was so stunned I nearly drove my foot on brake.

“What kind of question is that?” I gasped.

“It’s just a question.” She shook her head.

“How do you know I dropped out?” I was stuttering.

“I sensed it.” She nodded.

“Are you some kind of psychic?”

“You might say that.” She affirmed.

“So, you know things that people are thinking?”

“It’s part of what I do. How I am.” She pursed her lips as she nodded.

“What else can you tell me?” I glanced in the mirror as I stopped at another red signal light.

“You lost your father.” She said without a hitch in her voice.

“Right.” I felt a deep hitch in my throat.

“Your friend got you this job.” She added.

“He wasn’t much of a friend when you think about it.” I sighed as the light changed to green. In a few more minutes, I would be entering the expressway. The only good thing about that traffic would be light.

“Why would you say that?” She squinted at me.

“I hate my job.” I growled, “I thought you’d be able to sense that.”

“I did, but I did not wish to say it aloud.” She chuckled, “I do have some restraint at times.”

“Good to know.” I whispered, “Good to know.”

“What do you sense about me?” She asked playfully.

“You’re married with three kids.” I was able to smile as I made assertions that popped into my head.

“Oh no, I am not married.” She laughed.

“Why not? You are attractive.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” She shrugged.

“It’s just that attractive women usually find someone to be with.”

“You have a rather narrow outlook on how things are.” She sniffed, “While appearances may lure other potential lovers to them, this is purely subjective.”

“Are you attracted to other women?” I asked.

“Heavens no.” She shook her head trying to conceal her smile, “I just have never had time for such dalliances.”

“Neither have I.” I drove up to the booth at the entrance of the expressway. The woman in the tooth booth handed me a card with the tolls listed on it.

“No, you have a fear of intimacy.” She proclaimed.

“Merideth, you sure know how to cut through the bullshit, don’t you?” I bowed my head as I entered the expressway.

“It has been said about me.” She smiled again, “I just want you to know that there are moments in your life that are beautiful and worthwhile even if things don’t seem so promising at the moment.”

“I have to say that isn’t always the case. Sometimes you get dealt shitty cards.” I countered, “That seems to happen to me on every deal.”

“If you see life as you do, you will always be disappointed, I’m afraid.” She rested her head on her open palm as she looked out the window. Her brown eyes seemed to shine as we passed the expressway lights. I knew that my negative attitude had put her off as it had with many people I had a one-time association with. No one had to tell me that my negativity was the root of most of my problems. Glancing in the mirror, I could see that she no longer had any interest in continuing out conversation.

The darkness was total with the clouds covering any hope of light. Anything beyond the range of my headlights was invisible as far as I was concerned. I began to feel a certain amount of helplessness as I had connected my current circumstances to the what lay beyond the range of my headlights. If you can’t see it, it’s not really there.

It was how I felt the morning I left Crystal’s apartment with both of my suitcases dangling from my arms. She was still asleep as I got in my car and drove away for the last time. When I got home, my father was waiting for me on the porch.

“I see you have decided to come home.” He looked at me as I ascended the stairs of the porch.

“I am no learning anything that I can use later in life.” I told him.

“I see.” He packed his pipe before lighting it.

“I know you wanted me to be a big shot, but I just can’t seem to get it together.” I stuck out my lip in defeat.

“I don’t want you here.” He toss the match in mother’s garden. Her garden had survived three years after she was gone. “If you must come back, you will have to move out on your own. I love you, but I won’t put up with your unwillingness to become a better person.”

“Alright. Let me stay the night while I make arrangements of my own.” I asked.

“Very well.” He puffed on his pipe as I walked into the house. When I left in the morning, I had a feeling that I would never return. As it so happened, I did not return. Acting as the manager of his estate, I sold the house on a quick sale.

“One day you will find that life rewards those who seek better outcomes.” She said after a long duration of silence.

“I wish I could believe that.” I laughed.

“Bittersweet is the taste that has been left in your mouth.” She shook her head.

“You don’t know me, lady.” I shook my head in response.

“And you don’t know me.” She answered back, “But no matter what I say, you will continued to doubt me.”

“As long as you pay your fare, I really don’t see what impact you will have on me anyway.” I sighed, “I am tired of people who are always telling me that better days will come. I’ve got news for your, those days never come.”

“Have you asked them to.” She turned to looked out the rain-soaked window.

“What are you talking about?” I could see the lights of the airport in the distance.

“You must welcome good fortune.” She replied, “If you do not, good fortune will evade you.”

“I went to college for three years and in that time, I did not gain a single thing. I left Crystal when she told me that she needed someone who she could relate to. I wasn’t him. So, I figured it was time for me to move on and when I did, my father died two years later. Four years to the day my mother left us.”

“Your life has nothing but grief.”

“You got that right. Some people let good fortune fall into their hands. I, on the other hand, am not one of those blessed few.” I was angry the more we talked.

“Please pull up over there.” She pointed.

“What are you talking about? The airport is down this road.” I shrugged.

“I want to get out over there.” She pointed again to an empty area off the side of the road. “If I let you out, you will only get wet and you’ll have to walk the rest of the way to the terminal.”

“Here is your fare.” She handed me a lot more than her fare as she exited the cab.

“Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” I got out leaving the car to idle as I followed her to an empty space.

“You don’t have to follow me.” She said, but I could not tell what was rain falling on her face and what were her tears.

“I came to do what I was asked to do. There are people who are glad to see me.” She bowed her head. I must’ve been out of my mind, but I took my hand and lifted her chin so I could look her in the eyes. She blinked several times clearing the rain and tears from her eyes. “There are things you do not know about me.”

“What things?” I opened my eyes wide, “I want to know what things I need to know.”

Without saying another words, she removed her long coat.

“I must return from where I came from.” She looked up at the firmament as her wings appeared. Seeing her wings, I took a step back.

“This is what I was trying to tell you.” She put her hand on my wet cheek. “I was sent here to take someone’s soul back to where it came from.”

“What do you mean?” I asked feeling my heart begin to pound in my chest to escape.

“One day I will come back for you, Sonny.” She smiled. Light emitted from her hair as the wings began to move lifting her off the ground. I stood there and watched her float into the sky until the darkness swallowed her up.

Then I figured out she was an angel who had come to Mrs. Ellsworth who was suffering from cancer.

When I got back to my flat, there were ambulances and paramedics loading the late Mrs. Ellsworth into the ambulance.

“What happened?” I asked one of the paramedics.

“She had a stroke and passed away. Funny thing about it was she had a smile on her face.” He shrugged as he closed the door to the ambulance.

When I walked inside my apartment, I was overcome by a feeling I had never experienced before, hope.