"When my sister Bessie is gone, I think I'll move back into the old place."

Cass sat back and snickered a little, and she knew that she couldn't help but to say out loud what was so funny; "Now Shell, what's funny is, Bess used to say that when you were gone, that she was going to sell that old house and move down to Florida!"

Shellie was silent for just a moment, then raised her head defiantly: "There's no way that old bag is going to outlive me!" She uttered, and instantly looked ten years younger, full of spark and squirming guts.

It's true that Shellie Sharp was two years older than her sister Bessie, but Shellie had always defined the difference in age as 'two years smarter' than her sister.

Who would think that Bessie would live longer than me? With a stern shake of her head, Shellie couldn't imagine who would believe such a thing.

Cass was only mildly amused by the two sister's rivalry, but in the following weeks, she found herself to be the communication device between the two sisters. Bessie would sometimes ask Cass how Shellie was doing, but her questions were laced with a toxic swirl, and when Shellie asked about Bessie, it was often an insult disguised as friendly tea-time chatter. "Bessie still dyes her hair? I thought she'd given that up, but maybe she still has her eye on that grocery boy down at Marvin's."

A good friend to both of the sisters for many years, Cass had long grown tired of the competition between the two. Their childish jabs at one another were getting old, and they were all getting old-- too old for this.

One fine spring day, Shellie got a text. She knew it had to be from Cass, and once she'd found her glasses, the words could be seen: Come over immediately, URGENT!

What a sight it was, when Shellie found her friend, not in the house, but reclined in the back garden under a canopy of blossoms. Surrounded by a dozen burning incense sticks, and laying upon what must have been every cushion and pillow from the house, all piled upon a glistening silk sheet over a garden bench, Cass was stretched out and posed like a goddess.

Stopping on the scattering of rose pedals strewn around the makeshift pyre, Shellie snorted.

Do you think you lit enough incense? What's going on with you, Cass?

Blocking out the bewilderment of the surreal scene, Shellie hoped that maybe Cass was asleep, or hadn't heard her walking up, and she leaned in to peer at Cass's face. To Shellie's great relief and surprise, Cass breathed suddenly, and dramatically reached for Shellie's sleeve.

"You how hard this is... to, say a single word without telling you, or to go another minute without telling you..."

Pausing to breath deliberately, Cass opened her eyes ever so slowly, as if every bit of her being was being called forth, lifting up a tired pair of weighty eyelids for one last look around. Finding Shellie's face with faint eyes, and reaching up, she clumsily pawed at poor Shellie's neck, and began to speak again.

"Please, take care of your sister, she needs you... she's always needed you. When I'm gone, you'll need each other, and she'll be depending on you. Promise... promise you'll be good to each other."

There was a rattle at the gate, and Shellie didn't have to look to see who it was, she could hear her sister's dreary voice, grumbling about the latch on the gate or some such fuss. Indeed, within a few seconds, around the hedge came Bessie, sniffing the air hard, her eyes squinting suspiciously at the scene before her.

Oh lord... you're burning all of that incense outdoors? You know how expensive that stuff is?

Bessie stopped, and she and Shellie shared a split second, a micro-second of familial communication with but only a glance at each other, before Bessie started in on Cass again.

These nice pillows outside too? Girl, what's got into you? Cassie?

An awkward moment passed, and Shellie and Bessie's eyes met again with their silent communication, when finally Cass began to speak again:

"Remember Brenda used to say, that to live to be 100 years old would be tacky, and that anyone rude enough to live that long was just showing off?"

Coughing lightly, Cass looked up at her friends. "Look at you two! It's so wonderful to see you together-- so wonderful to be here with you, even as I draw my last breaths. How long has it been since we all spent an afternoon together like this?"

Both of the sisters laughed at once. There was a feeling of youthful warmth in the garden all of a sudden, and they all felt it. The moment of laughter held the joys and beauty of three lifetimes, and spoke the words that would have taken a lifetime to say out loud. Even the catbird in a neighbor's tree meowed along with the timeless seconds of laughter, and the smiles that were created that afternoon would last well into the next year.

Having helped Cass move all of the pillows back inside the house, and having expertly shaken the leaves from the silk sheets, Shellie and Bessie left Cass's garden feeling fresh and renewed. They had wished Cass a happy birthday, and had fumbled through their purses for their car keys as the afternoon shadows reached across the street in front of Cass's house.

"She really went all-out this year, didn't she? God I love that old chick!"

Shellie nodded in agreement, and once more the two sisters shared a glance which said nearly everything else. With another giggle, Shellie turned towards her car. "Cass does these birthday shebangs, not for herself, but because she cares about us. We're lucky to have a friend like her, always watching out for us. I'll see you next year, Bess-- take care of yourself now."

---

photo above is mine, 2018, all characters above are fictional beings, living only in our imaginations for the moment, while any resemblance to actual beings is probably intentional

—————

Click @therealpaul for more