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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Part III/Finale: Good Night, My Glove, Sleep Tight


The culminating frustration of the last few months met half way up and half way down the staircase last evening in an emotional hand-clasp that made the pictures on the wall shudder in relief.

Rightie has come home.

Forced into a hand-to-hand existence amongst Minneapolis’ homeless, she was found in a snow bank outside the bus stop just two stops from home.

Rightie and Stinky: the best of gloves, the worst of glove stories. Kept apart by the complex bus-riding patterns of the homeless and an unrelenting cold front, the two gloves have reunited.

There, on the stairs near the living room, they face each other for the first time in months.

Rightie’s fingers hang dejectedly. “I – I – Stinky, you don’t know what I’ve been through.”

Stinky shakes slightly from side to side, raises his index finger. “It doesn’t matter. We did what we had to do.”

Rightie blushes, her palm hot with shame. “You don’t know.”

“I don’t need to know. Nothing will ever change the love I have for you.”

The ends of Rightie’s fingertips assume an air of hope. “Then we still have time? To be together?”

Stinky pauses, runs his thumb up the inside of Rightie’s palm. Again, he shakes slightly from side to side. “It’s too late, my love. She has new gloves now. Word on the staircase is that we’re to be washed, pressed flat, placed in a reasonably airtight container, and stored in the basement until next October.”

“A good, long nap.” Rightie smiles ruefully and sighs. “I’ve missed you so.”

Suddenly, there is the sound of a door opening; and with that, the gloves fall, limply, to the floor.

On the heel of the sound of footsteps, the woman sweeps into the stairway, laundry basket bouncing off a hip. She grabs both gloves and the circular scarf Mary has given her, and they join the load of towels destined for the washer.

And safe within the tumbled world of the laundry basket, Rightie and Stinky’s fingers intertwine.

17 comments:

Shelly said...

I think I heard the theme from Love Story while I read this. Intertwined forever. Just as it should be.

George said...

You are an artist.

jenny_o said...

George is right, you know.

You gave me a lump in my throat over a pair of gloves, Pearl! That is art.

joeh said...

I know it is early, but that is a front runner for best "Glove Story" of the year!

Connie said...

Ah, romance. I just love a happy ending! :-)

Silliyak said...

Everyone loves a Glove Story with a happy ending.

Anonymous said...

I like happy endings best.

Joe Pereira said...

O, glove love is true love :)

Notes From ABroad said...

I am weeping ... this is definitely a 2 hanky story .. I love a good glove story.

Simply Suthern said...

I can picture it now.

West Side Story remake.

Gloves snapping to the tune.

stephen Hayes said...

How dare you make me cry---over freakin gloves!

Dawn@Lighten Up! said...

A love story, a glove story.
Only you, Pearlie.
:)

The Cranky said...

Methinks I'm s-mitten with this glove story...

Geo. said...

Pearl, this has the makings of a GREAT musical. Contact Lloyd Webber --he might stick cats in it but look what he did for Evita and Jesus. You're onto something here!

Anonymous said...

It's a good thing they weren't Kim Kardashian's gloves!!

chlost said...

Just think of the lonely life led by Michael Jackson's glove. Sad- tragic, really. So happy that Rightie and Stinky found their way back together.

Great stuff, Pearl.

Rose L said...

Such a hand warming G-Love story! And on Valentine's day! What a coincidence!!