STAFF/VOLUNTEER READER SHOWCASE
BY MICHELLE DINNICK
Copyright is held by the author.
THEY MET at hospice while their first spouses were dying, which sounds awful, but apparently was very special.
They didn’t realize they were falling in love, but their families did. Every day for weeks they ate and played cards together. Even when it got really bad, they still supported each other.
Mom was really into crystals, and she brought some for the man who would be our dad. She explained they were to help him stay strong while his wife transitioned into an angel.
“So you don’t need as much refurbishing after,” she had said.
He was a skilled carpenter who also enjoyed bringing new life to previously loved furniture.
They called their store Do Over because that’s what they got when they met. They considered themselves refurbished: previously loved with a lot of life left.
In the weeks leading up to their 20th anniversary, dad brought home what would be a beautiful dining room set with one issue that apparently only I could detect.
“You seriously can’t smell that?”
Dad was already vigorously sanding when mom came in. He was happiest when he was fixing furniture. “Have you ever seen a dining room table with drawers?” He was so excited!
But I couldn’t hide my laugh. “Do you know how much broccoli was shoved in there by kids who wanted to hide it?”
Mom wiggled the narrow drawer open.
“Petrified broccoli?” Mom smiled and held up a small velvet box, which contained a beautiful diamond pendant.
Dad smiled. “It was time for you to have one thing that hasn’t been refurbished.”
***
Michelle Dinnick lives in Aliston, Ontario. She has an H. B.sc in Biological Anthropology and has won several awards, in fiction, poetry and nonfiction. She has published online on CommuterLit.com, fiftywordstories.com, the Quick Brown Fox blog and feminiecollective.com; and in print in The Globe and Mail, Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Briar Crier Magazine, Total Sports Magazine, Voice of the Farmer Newspaper, Focus 50 Plus Newspaper, and Arts Talk Magazine, published by the South Simcoe Arts Council.
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