TheBanyanTree: Tonight's Story

[Sally Larwood]

Me too Kitty. Fascinating and excellently written as always. 

Sal 

Sent from my iPad 

> On 27 Mar 2014, at 23:38, Kitty Park <mzzkitty at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I have a question, Monique, about your writing.
> 
> There's a flow with this piece that I don't always find in what you post.
> In my mind's eye, you sat down, thought for a moment or two about what you
> wanted to convey and then the words put themselves down.  Minimal editing.
> 
> Now don't misunderstand.  I appreciate reading what you share -- whether
> it's goofy or serious.  But there is a quality about this one that sets it
> apart from some of the others.
> 
> Maybe it's *my* mood this morning that is affecting how I regard your
> thoughts about Cece.  Bottom line -- this one pulled me in and I was sorry
> when it ended.
> 
> Kitty
> <mzzkitty at gmail.com>kcp-parkplace.blogspot.com
> <http://parkplaceohio.com>
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Mar 27, 2014 at 1:31 AM, Monique Colver <monique.colver at gmail.com>wrote:
> 
>> I have a friend. She's a friend of a friend who became a friend. She used
>> to live in Hollywood, the Hollywood, and was married to a guy who was big
>> in the Scientology thing there. I met her once. She's a down-to-earth women
>> who's happy with living simply, and she didn't care for the Hollywood
>> religion.
>> 
>> Years ago when I was broke she insisted I had to go to California to see my
>> grandfather, who was 100 at the time. "But Cece," I told her, "I really
>> can't afford to."
>> 
>> "You're going to come see him," she insisted, "You and Andrew both. You'll
>> stay here, and you can borrow my van, and I'll pay for the plane tickets."
>> 
>> And she did. She wanted to do it because she wanted us to see Gramps, and
>> she had the money, and she was insistent, and so we went.
>> 
>> We stayed at her house, we met her family, her husband just for a second,
>> her disabled daughter for longer. Her disabled daughter, in her teens then,
>> told me I was too old for Andrew, and that he should go out with her
>> instead. Cece had her hands full with that one. She had other children, but
>> they were mostly grown and elsewhere, probably free spirits like their
>> mother.
>> 
>> We saw Gramps, and he and Andrew had a good talk.He was slower, and seemed
>> tired, but was in good spirits. It was indeed the last chance we'd have to
>> see him -- several months later he was gone, shortly before he would have
>> turned 101.
>> 
>> We were so grateful to Cece, but she would not entertain the idea of being
>> paid back. She was just happy she could do it for us.
>> 
>> Not too long after that Cece left her husband and moved into the wilds of
>> California. She'd had enough of his Scientology, something she was in only
>> because he was, and she refused to belong anymore. Contact with her became
>> intermittent. She usually was far from Inter Webs, having to trek into the
>> nearest town to get it. She was free and unfettered, and she moved in with
>> a guy named Terry, a veteran with PTSD, into his trailer out in the desert.
>> 
>> Every so often we'd hear from her. Sometimes she'd drunk dial me,
>> incoherent and rambling, but still full of love.
>> 
>> Then Terry, the love of her life, blew his brains out while at his desk,
>> while she was in the next room.
>> 
>> When I am at my lowest I think of how Cece found him when she heard the
>> shot, and I know I could not do that to anyone I love.
>> 
>> Today Cece posted pictures of her trailer, pictures she'd taken when she'd
>> returned from the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
>> 
>> And there was blood sprayed on the wall, and pooled on the floor, and even
>> at a distance of several years, and in a picture, you can see the pain, all
>> the pain Terry had bottled up inside, until he let it loose to run over the
>> desk and the floor and the walls. Pain is a deep dark red, mostly, once
>> it's been released anyway. Before that it can be any color, but when it
>> comes out, it's red.
>> 
>> Cece, being Cece, didn't explain the first set of pictures adequately, even
>> though she did say that's what she came home to after Terry was taken to
>> the hospital, so people were responding with things like, "OMG Cece! When
>> did this happen?" "Are you okay?" "What's going on?"
>> 
>> Then she posted pictures of what it looks like now. She has a sense of
>> peace there, despite it all. I know she's fallen in love since again, and
>> maybe out of. It's hard to tell with Cece. She's mercurial, and what's here
>> one day may be something else the next.
>> 
>> She's a lovely spirit, floating through her good times and bad, giving
>> whatever she has to give and not giving it a second thought.
>> 
>> It's been awhile since I've had a drunken call from her, but she claims
>> that we helped her greatly.
>> 
>> I know she helped me greatly.
>> 
>> 
>> M
>>