September 20, 2019 Issue

Page 12—Seniors Today—September 20, 2019
Marci Part 3, Chapter 10
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The following weeks would be a
blur filled with long work days
and lonely nights. Each night
Marci would sit in her room
alone looking out the window and longing
to see her son again. She could feel the bitterness
starting to build and the more she
thought about the day she was forced away
from the Dalton farm the harder she felt
her heart becoming.
She poured her efforts into her work,
determined to use her job as an outlet for all
of her frustrations. Her boss loved her work
ethic and was the benefactor of all of her
pinned up frustration.
In six months Marci became the assistant
head bookkeeper with six women working
under her. Her 12 to 15 hour working
days were reaping benefits, at least for her
employer. However, the toll on her was cutting
a deep riff in her soul. She no longer
had time to go out with her friends and over
the following year saw many of them get
engaged and get married.
Still a young women, Marci had no time
for such trivial things as dating and especially
men. Most nights after she would
return to the boarding house she would go
straight, to her room and lay across the bed
and fall asleep, only to wake up still dressed
from the day before during the night.
Chipley and the Dalton’s would grow
further and further from her mind as she
continued to push those thoughts away.
What she couldn’t push away were the
thoughts of Isaiah, Jr. and not being able
to watch him grow up.
A year passed. Then one Saturday afternoon,
after a morning of working, she
decided she would go back to Chipley.
She went to the boarding house, packed
a bag, and headed to the train station.
At the station she marched up to the
ticket counter. “I need a ticket to Chipley,
Florida,” she told the agent when he walked
up to the counter.
“I’m sorry ma’am, but the bridge of the
Okaloosa River is shut down until Monday,”
He told her.
For the first time in months Marci cried.
She sat down on a bench next to the tracks
and starred down the rails.
It took several hours for her to gain her
composure back. Fate had stepped in keeping
her from making that trip and fate was
not finished with her.
That evening as she sat in her room allowing
the grief she had felt at the train depot
to overwhelm her. The sounds from outside
slowly filled the room. They were the sounds
of the city that she had grown accustomed to
and for some unusual reason had a calming
effect on her as she sat listening. The city
was now her new normal like the sounds of
the farm had been before. Those sounds she
began to realize were now a part of her life.
Instead of her usual trip to the factory
on a Sunday morning to work she decided
to take a much needed day off.
There was a small church a few blocks
from the boarding house. Marci decided
maybe it was time to visit the little church.
The Dalton’s had taken her to church
many times, but she never felt that she had
Winding
Roads
…by Byron Spires
a home in their church. Once she left Chipley
she did not give church much thought.
She walked the few blocks to the church.
She stood near the front entrance for a few
minutes debating on whether to go inside.
As she stood trying to make her mind up a
young lady about her age walked up to her.
“We would love to have you visit with
us this morning,” the woman said.
Marci turned in her direction when she
spoke and smiled and nodded her head.
“Good, you can sit with me and my
friends,” the woman said.
Reluctantly Marci entered the church
following the woman to one of the pews
where three other women were sitting.
Like the Dalton’s church the service
opened with a prayer, a few hymns, and
finally the preacher stood up to speak.
There was something different about this
church. There were a few folks dressed in
their Sunday best much like the Dalton’s
church. There was a difference she noticed
because many of the men were dressed in
work clothes, they were clean and pressed,
but not fancy by any means. The majority of
the women were dressed in simple dresses
with very little flare to them and the children
who sat quietly with their parents were clean,
but wore everyday clothes.
The preacher’s first words startled her
out of her observations. He too was different
she noticed, no long black robe
with a collar, instead he had on a business
suit much like the men in her office wore.
It was nothing fancy just a black suit,
white shirt, and a black tie. He was a tall
lanky man with grey hair receding back from
his forehead. He towered above the pulpit
and leaned forward each time he spoke. She
did not pay much attention to what he was
saying. It sounded a lot like other preachers
she had heard before.
He read a few scriptures and then stepped
away from the pulpit.
“I had a sermon prepared for today, but
for some reason I have these thoughts on
my heart,” he said.
His comment caught Marci’s attention. “I
wonder what he is going to say,” she thought.
“I know there are folks in this congregation
today that are facing serious trials
and tribulations,” he started.
“How could he know what is going on
in my life,” Marci said to herself.
“You see you are not alone, God is here
with you today and always,” he continued.
As Marci sat and listened to him she
assumed he was talking to her.
“In many ways we are all broken by
what life has thrown at us,” he said.
Marci was sure he was looking straight
at her when he made that comment.
That sermon would be the beginning a
change in Marci’s life, especially what he
said at the end.
You can contact Byron Spires via e-
mail at windingroads@netzero.com