What are you doing kneeling down in the dirt for I asked? You will get you clothes all muddy from the rain last night”. She then looked down at the traces of mud on the hem of her little sailor suit and then at the flowers. She turned to me and with that soft child like voice said. The mud will wash from these clothes, but this moment of beauty can never be erased.” I was speechless at that moment for I had never hear such poetry come forth with such beautiful sincerity. She continued on in my obvious silence speaking in almost reverent tones as she touched the petals of the fall flowers. Each she said carries with it the breath of God, the colors are the colors of the sun and the sky and He has made all things beautiful for us to enjoy and see. Too often man will just pass something like this by and never give it another thought, but I want to cherish all the beauty that God has given us for our time here on earth.” She looked back at the rows of flowers and just knelt there in momentary silence with her eyes shut as if she were engraving this moment on her soul.

Then suddenly as if flipping on a light switch she turned to me and said, “you never did tell me what you are doing here.” I was still in awe of the freshness that had poured from her heart and took a little too long to answer. She then smiled and said “you don’t have to say if you don’t want to.” “Oh…I’m sorry I replied, I was just amazed at the way you view things, that’s all…I’m the groundskeeper here. With those words no sooner out of my mouth she sprang to her feet, she cocked her head a little sideways and with a half giggle said, so you planted these flowers?” When I nodded my head yes she continued on and softly said, “Maybe you will plant me some pretties one day.”

I did not know what to say, but managed a half smile and then said what about that cup of coffee you asked about earlier, the canteen is open now and you can go strait from there to wherever it is your going to here.” That sounds good to me she said, and just so that you will know, I am here for some testing to see about a position here…wouldn’t that be great, you and me working at the same place? Why I could sit in one of those windows over there at my desk and watch you plant lots of pretties all around.”

I could not believe what I was hearing, I just met this girl a little over an hour ago and she was already mapping out what she saw to be a future. About then that nagging little voice returned to my head…”you better watch out dude, when they are that pretty and move that fast especially on someone like you it can mean only one thing…TROUBLE.”

I tried to ignore the voice as we walked across the grass towards the canteen. I say walked, but it was more like a skip. Once I slowed down just so she could get ahead of me and I could admire her sweet little walk. At this point I really didn’t care what the little voice was saying, I really liked Leah, and even though we just met…I liked her a lot.

When we got up to the sidewalk that led around the corner to the cafeteria she quickly turned to me and out of the blue she said…”Allen, do you believe in love at first sight?”

What I mean she continued is that when you see or meet someone for the first time, you know deep down inside that this is the person you would want to spend the rest of your life with and then forever in eternity”. I looked into her eyes at that point and I answered even before I thought about the question and what I said shocked even me, it just came spurting out like a dam that had just broke. “Leah, though I have known you less than two hours, the very minute I laid eyes on you I fell in love with you. I did not approach you because I thought that you were too beautiful for someone like me and I have always been afraid of getting hurt. You see, its like this, I have a lot of love to give and I have waited all my life for someone that would be willing to take the love I have and cherish it with all their heart and I was afraid to say anything to you because I did not want to frighten you…Yes Leah, I do believe in love at first sight because I know that there is a greater power at work here than I can fully explain.”

After I had finished speaking she looked at me with a softness that I had not seen in anyone before and she was silent. Just then that voice in my head jumped in…” You done went and done it now you idiot, I would not be surprised if she ran from you as fast as she can and straight for the cops…I mean what do you mean telling a woman you love her and you don’t even know her last name…talk about all the dumb….” Leah then smiled at me from her silence and told me that what I just said was the sweetest thing that she had ever heard and that she was glad that I said what I said because she felt the same way about me…the little voice in my head had shut up now and my heart was singing such a lovely tune.

J. Allen Wilson

To be continued on 9/20/08