- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
- Messages
- 3,258
I have a friend here at work. his name is Lucien P. He's an older gentleman, 62 to be exact. He runs a collator. A lifelong resident of Jaffrey, his family has lived in this area for generations. Same with his wife, Anne. He's an honest, hard-working Frenchman. I like him.
He had last week as vacation. Last Friday, he got up around five o'clock, early - as some folks do, leaving Anne still under the covers. He had a cigarette and sat back in his recliner, smoking, watching the morning sun come up. He put out the cigarette and dozed off.
Lucien was abruptly awoken by a music box playing. High on a shelf, way in the back was a dusty old music box. It hadn't been used in years, much less wound up enough to play... but there it was, playing its tune.
It played for thirty seconds then just as quickly, it stopped.
This disturbed Lucien a great deal. He didn't know why, but some thing was bothering him. Something ate at him in the back of his mind. Something wasn't right. Not just that, either. Not just that something "wasn't right" - more like something significant was connected to the music box playing all by itself. Then he began to second-guess himself as to whether or not he actually heard it in the first place.
This occurrence kept needling Lucien all week. This morning he finally mentioned what happened to Anne. She claimed she heard it too! Then she mentioned that Friday, the 7th of November was one year to the day of her sister's death. She died last year of cancer.
I remember the day she died. Lucien left work early and took some bereavement leave for a few days after that.
Funny thing is, both of them heard the music box at the same time, yet neither one wanted to admit it, thinking they were losing their minds!
He had last week as vacation. Last Friday, he got up around five o'clock, early - as some folks do, leaving Anne still under the covers. He had a cigarette and sat back in his recliner, smoking, watching the morning sun come up. He put out the cigarette and dozed off.
Lucien was abruptly awoken by a music box playing. High on a shelf, way in the back was a dusty old music box. It hadn't been used in years, much less wound up enough to play... but there it was, playing its tune.
It played for thirty seconds then just as quickly, it stopped.
This disturbed Lucien a great deal. He didn't know why, but some thing was bothering him. Something ate at him in the back of his mind. Something wasn't right. Not just that, either. Not just that something "wasn't right" - more like something significant was connected to the music box playing all by itself. Then he began to second-guess himself as to whether or not he actually heard it in the first place.
This occurrence kept needling Lucien all week. This morning he finally mentioned what happened to Anne. She claimed she heard it too! Then she mentioned that Friday, the 7th of November was one year to the day of her sister's death. She died last year of cancer.
I remember the day she died. Lucien left work early and took some bereavement leave for a few days after that.
Funny thing is, both of them heard the music box at the same time, yet neither one wanted to admit it, thinking they were losing their minds!
