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#Post#: 3467--------------------------------------------------
Tell Me I Was Dreaming
DIR By: Maggie Flannery
Date: August 9, 2018, 6:09 am
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*Just a blurb. A tearful blurb that I blame on reading a few
incredibly sad books and listening to sad country songs. It
doesn't tie into anything at all it's just a one off because I
had to get it out of my system. *
Songs used : Tell Me I Was Dreaming - Travis Tritt ( the basis
for Buddy's POV ) / Light of a Clear Blue Morning - The
Wailin' Jennys ( the lullaby Colly used to sing )
When I woke up this morning wiped the sleep from my eyes
I found a new day dawning and suddenly I realized you’re gone
Tell me I was dreaming that you didn’t leave me to cry
Tell me that you didn’t say goodbye
I’m in a state of confusion
I hope things aren’t what they seem
If this really happening just let me go back to dream you’re
home
Harsh morning light flooded the normally warm and welcoming
bedroom of the farmhouse down on Boone Road as it was known to
everyone but the postal carrier, he just called it Rural Route
29. The house was still. Too still and too quiet for the now
wide awake occupant. His tall lanky frame huddled into his
normal spot on the king sized bed. His mind had been flickering
through the myriad of memories that this house held. True, they
had only lived here for a little under seven years but they had
packed it to the rafters with memories.
‘We’re going to make it a proper home.’
She’d said as they finished their walk around the front end of
the property and noted what needed the most work first. First it
had been the windows that needed replacing, then some of the
older floorboards but little by little they, or more importantly
she, had breathed life back into the place. She had insisted on
putting in a huge garden because what was a farm without a
garden and using time to can things to put up for winter? His
back still had knots and aches from having to dig the boundary
lines for that darn garden but without her wish to have one they
would never have found the tiny little family cemetery at the
back edge of the front acre. The garden had been put on hold as
she went and called in a few favors from her Daddy and her
brother-in-laws and him to set the old stones to rights and
reconsecrate the ground there. A fence had been put in and now a
small grove of maples was in place there providing some shade.
Along with a new addition. A dogwood tree, her favorite.
‘The blossoms are beautiful don’t you think? When I was a kid
and I went to visit my Granny Jamison my favorite spot was out
under the dogwood tree.’
He could still see her face, glowing like she’d swallowed the
sun, her eyes bright and her cheeks flushed. Grinning from ear
to ear and an ‘I love you’ ever ready. His Ruth. She was Colly
to everyone else but to him she would always be his Ruth. She
had given him the honor of calling her by her given name instead
of the shorter one that her family had bestowed upon her to
avoid confusion with the grandmother she had been named after.
He closed his eyes as the sinking hollow feeling took over. He
was a drowning man lost on dry land. Down the hallway he heard a
cry. He made no motion to get up, if he did reality would sink
in even further and he was content to lay here in this bed and
dream just a few minutes more. In his dreams she was still here,
still her smiling self. She was still alive and that drunk
driver never hit her as she was coming home from town. In his
dreams he never had to plan her funeral and pick out which dress
she was going to wear or which hymn she’d want sung. Her burial
had been yesterday in the tiny cemetery she’d set to rights. Her
stone was a simple one but still stuck out as it was bright and
new. But here in the bed they had shared there were no goodbyes.
There was a soft padding of feet down the hallway that caught
his attention. A hushed voice and the crying stopped. Without a
second thought he had to find out if it was true. Did dreams
really come true?
Remembered steps took him down two doors to the left and in the
light blue room he found a brunette in the old polished dark
wood rocker by the window. Humming softy to the snuffling infant
in her arms. This woman wasn’t his wife. Her clothes were
different and it wasn’t the song his Ruth sang to Abel. This
song wasn’t about clear blue mornings, this was hushabye and
while it was lovely it wasn’t the same. Nothing would ever be
the same ever again.
A moment slipped by and the baby made it known that he was
unhappy. No amount of shushing, hushing or rocking worked. This
was the wail of a child that needed his father. They both knew
it.
“I think he wants you.”
“I…I can’t.”
“You have to. You’re the only parent he’s got left…he needs
you.”
“It’s not ever going to be the same without her here, Hel. Not
ever again.”
“I know…I know and God I wish it wasn’t true. She lived for you
both but now you’ve got to live for her. Keep her memory alive
and she’s always here no matter what.”
“Would you and Caleb mind staying on a bit until I get back on
my feet?”
He was not a man to ask many favors but he had been taken down
at the knees and he was broken.
“We’d be honored.”
“I…I can get the cabin ready for you both if you’d like.”
“This house is awfully big for just you and Abe. We could stay
here…if you like.”
“We would. Thank you.”
For the first time since his world fell apart Buddy Hollis
rewarded his wife’s best friend with a small ghost of a smile.
#Post#: 3468--------------------------------------------------
Re: Tell Me I Was Dreaming
DIR By: Wolfy
Date: August 9, 2018, 9:58 am
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HTML https://78.media.tumblr.com/b1740ca420fbba00a64dae762986048a/tumblr_inline_p9cvg9ybg91sv2a9f_100.gif
I prepared myself for a wave of emotion before I began reading
but I absolutely did not prepare myself enough, I don't think. I
think I got used to those drabbles where Flannery wound up being
a loss, but never prepped myself for it being Col ( Ruth ).
Helene is all kinds of upset and I am, too. I feel all of
Buddy's pain right now and the torment that he's dealing with,
trying to push through in small ways because he knows he has to
look after Abel. Helene and Caleb would absolutely hang around
for as long as he needed them to and Hel would have no trouble
getting up in the night to tend to Abel if needs must; Cae will
also take over shopping trips and other such things around the
house / garden that Buddy may need help with. This was a
beautiful piece, as much as it ruined me and brought out the
tissues. I would also love to see even more drabbles relating to
this particular path, actually, in ways, a bit of backstory for
the lead up to this fateful night. I'm thinking of sending a few
asks your way over on tumblr about this one, too. They will be
from a bunch of my muses ❤️
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