The Christmas Kiss

It was Christmas Eve and a cold wind screamed and howled down the dark litter strewn alley.
Dorothy, 'Dot-Dot' to those who knew her on the streets huddled in the corner of the alley behind a dumpster under a menagerie of blankets trying to stave off the cold.

Dot-Dot had been homeless since her husband passed away several years ago. Without his pension and no children to rely on she quickly went through the meager savings she had, and soon found herself forced from her small tenant apartment. Oh how she cried that day. The place that she and her late husband had called home for the last Fifty years was now gone. On top of that it was Christmas Eve, and the day before her 70th birthday.

As she sat at the bottom of the steps weeping, she recalled the time Frank, her husband, took her to Florida for her birthday. It was so beautiful and warm. Unlike the wet and cold of the Baltimore row house they called home.

Now four years later as the winds tossed trash around her, she thought of that birthday gift from what now seemed eons ago. It seemed to warm her inside despite the frigid reality.

You know she thought, it wasn't like she hadn't tried to find little odd jobs to get back on her feet, but with no skills to speak of coupled with her age and failing health no one would hire her. If it weren't for a couple of the street regulars, Joe-Joe and the nut job who called himself Yosemite Sam, she would have perished the first year.

As one year became two 'Dot' had become quite skilled when it came to street survival, but she had grown weary and the swelling and sores on her legs had gotten worse. Just walking had become a chore, she was tired, she missed Frank more and more each day. Soon she would hear the church bells chime down the street and it would be Christmas Day, and her 74th birthday. No gifts, no Frank, nothing but another day of pain she thought as she tucked her head further beneath the blankets and wept fresh cold tears.

Listening to the moaning wind she slowly began to drift off into a light slumber and dreamed dreams of a day without darkness and pain. She dreamed of that birthday in Florida with Frank and slept sweetly.

Suddenly she was pulled back from that happier time in her life by the sound of the church bells signaling it was Christmas Day. As she heard the last chime, she heard something else; the soft clicking sound of shoes taping against the concrete of the alley... the clicking grew louder as the footsteps came closer. She slowly lowered the blanket covering her head and saw a shadowy figure leaning over her. She then felt the warmth of tender lips kiss her face, and then a deep voice spoke... Happy Birthday Dorothy. "Frank" she exclaimed out loud. A smile crossed her time worn face and she closed her eyes for the last time.

J. Allen Wilson ©
12/10/2017

Authors note: This coming Christmas and every day thereafter there are thousands of Dorothy's, Joe-Joe's and Yosemite Sam's out there. Many are sickly and in need of help. Many like 'Dot Dot' too will receive the last kiss.