Soul Awakening
By Doug Simpson
By Doug Simpson
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If you missed out yesterday's post, catch Chapter Two here.
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Chapter 3
Dani
The next day, Dacque followed his habitual, morning routine pretty much to the letter, and turned south onto 7th Street a few minutes after nine o'clock. Two steps into his southern trek, he was greeted by the now-familiar voice, "You are going the wrong way!" Dacque was not-the-least-bit surprised at this instruction, and commenced an abrupt about-face. As he approached Olive Avenue, the street light turned red, just like the day before, propelling him across 7th Street on the green and continuing west. He was pretty sure he knew exactly where he was being led, so another red light at 10th came as no big shock.
Dacque entered MacDunnah Park and retraced his steps from the day before. As he entered the central circle, he could see the young legal secretary sitting on the same bench as yesterday, watching his approach.
"Good morning, Dacque. I was uncertain whether you would walk this way this morning?" she said.
"To be perfectly truthful, I headed south at first, but I was abruptly advised that I was going the wrong way."
"You certainly have Powerful Connections."
"You don't know the half of it, trust me," Dacque responded with a smile. "Shall we walk again?"
The young woman stood up, and once more took Dacque's arm, giving it an affectionate squeeze, and they were off for a morning stroll.
"You appear to be in a much better mood this morning?" Dacque commented.
"Much ..... much ..... much better, thanks to you, and your Connections, which truthfully I still have great difficulty trying to rationalize through my humanized brain."
Dacque laughed. "Trust me, I understand. I was there once myself, and not really that many years ago, but that's a story that will have to wait for another time and place."
They walked along in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the pleasures that Mother Nature had blessed them with on this perfect spring morning. "I followed your advice last night when I got into bed, and prayed and prayed until I fell asleep."
"How did you sleep?"
"Like a baby. Best sleep I've had in years. You would not believe, actually you probably would, how happy and relaxed I was when I awoke this morning. I pinched myself to see if I was dreaming."
"That's fabulous! You are off to a great start. I do not want to sound redundant, but you really should follow the same approach every night."
"I will. I may not understand what is going on, but I have already understood the benefits. When I return home, later, I intend to eagerly pursue my future employment opportunities. My attitude has almost-instantly flip-flopped from very negative and frustrated to positive, positive, and more positive. There is a job out there waiting for me, somewhere. I just have to find it."
The excitement in her voice and attitude was unmistakable. Dacque was thrilled. "You have caught on to this really quickly. I am impressed!"
"I'm no dummy! I was down, down, with two quick and unexpected strikes against me in a row, but I wasn't out, by any means. I'm not going to settle for just a base hit, I'm searching for a home run."
Dacque smiled, and was pleased that his new, now-friendly acquaintance had some understanding of baseball lingo.
They walked along in silence for a while, and the young woman reached into the pocket of her blouse and held up a piece of paper. "My name is Dani. This is my phone number. It is a cell-phone number. Just in case you want to get in touch one day."
Dacque glanced at the paper and noticed the spelling of her name. No Surname, just Dani. "Thank you, Dani." He slid the paper into his shirt pocket, and told himself, silently, to move it to his wallet, later.
Dani and Dacque spent the rest of the morning casually strolling around the beautiful park, watching the birds and the squirrels and enjoying the sweet fragrances emanating from Mother Natures Miracles. There was so much more that he needed to explain to Dani, but he knew, from experience, that he had to educate her, patiently, one step at a time, in life on the other-side, the world that most humans could not see or hear and habitually found it inconceivable to believe even existed. Dacque treated her to lunch, again. He enjoyed her refreshing company so much that he hated to see her leave, but he was fully aware that she had a long life ahead of her that she needed, at this point, to resurrect from the ashes of the past two months. He knew he would see her again, probably soon, but he had to back away for the present.
Outside the restaurant, Dani stepped close to Dacque, kissed him on the cheek, and gave him a long, strong, embrace. "Thank you for popping into my life. I hate to think of where I might have tumbled to if you had not come along, or should that be, was sent along? I will start thanking God in my prayers for sending you to me. Probably, I will not try to meet you again for a while, and instead devote my full attention to finding another job. We have each other's number, when needed. Bye for now."
Dani
The next day, Dacque followed his habitual, morning routine pretty much to the letter, and turned south onto 7th Street a few minutes after nine o'clock. Two steps into his southern trek, he was greeted by the now-familiar voice, "You are going the wrong way!" Dacque was not-the-least-bit surprised at this instruction, and commenced an abrupt about-face. As he approached Olive Avenue, the street light turned red, just like the day before, propelling him across 7th Street on the green and continuing west. He was pretty sure he knew exactly where he was being led, so another red light at 10th came as no big shock.
Dacque entered MacDunnah Park and retraced his steps from the day before. As he entered the central circle, he could see the young legal secretary sitting on the same bench as yesterday, watching his approach.
"Good morning, Dacque. I was uncertain whether you would walk this way this morning?" she said.
"To be perfectly truthful, I headed south at first, but I was abruptly advised that I was going the wrong way."
"You certainly have Powerful Connections."
"You don't know the half of it, trust me," Dacque responded with a smile. "Shall we walk again?"
The young woman stood up, and once more took Dacque's arm, giving it an affectionate squeeze, and they were off for a morning stroll.
"You appear to be in a much better mood this morning?" Dacque commented.
"Much ..... much ..... much better, thanks to you, and your Connections, which truthfully I still have great difficulty trying to rationalize through my humanized brain."
Dacque laughed. "Trust me, I understand. I was there once myself, and not really that many years ago, but that's a story that will have to wait for another time and place."
They walked along in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the pleasures that Mother Nature had blessed them with on this perfect spring morning. "I followed your advice last night when I got into bed, and prayed and prayed until I fell asleep."
"How did you sleep?"
"Like a baby. Best sleep I've had in years. You would not believe, actually you probably would, how happy and relaxed I was when I awoke this morning. I pinched myself to see if I was dreaming."
"That's fabulous! You are off to a great start. I do not want to sound redundant, but you really should follow the same approach every night."
"I will. I may not understand what is going on, but I have already understood the benefits. When I return home, later, I intend to eagerly pursue my future employment opportunities. My attitude has almost-instantly flip-flopped from very negative and frustrated to positive, positive, and more positive. There is a job out there waiting for me, somewhere. I just have to find it."
The excitement in her voice and attitude was unmistakable. Dacque was thrilled. "You have caught on to this really quickly. I am impressed!"
"I'm no dummy! I was down, down, with two quick and unexpected strikes against me in a row, but I wasn't out, by any means. I'm not going to settle for just a base hit, I'm searching for a home run."
Dacque smiled, and was pleased that his new, now-friendly acquaintance had some understanding of baseball lingo.
They walked along in silence for a while, and the young woman reached into the pocket of her blouse and held up a piece of paper. "My name is Dani. This is my phone number. It is a cell-phone number. Just in case you want to get in touch one day."
Dacque glanced at the paper and noticed the spelling of her name. No Surname, just Dani. "Thank you, Dani." He slid the paper into his shirt pocket, and told himself, silently, to move it to his wallet, later.
Dani and Dacque spent the rest of the morning casually strolling around the beautiful park, watching the birds and the squirrels and enjoying the sweet fragrances emanating from Mother Natures Miracles. There was so much more that he needed to explain to Dani, but he knew, from experience, that he had to educate her, patiently, one step at a time, in life on the other-side, the world that most humans could not see or hear and habitually found it inconceivable to believe even existed. Dacque treated her to lunch, again. He enjoyed her refreshing company so much that he hated to see her leave, but he was fully aware that she had a long life ahead of her that she needed, at this point, to resurrect from the ashes of the past two months. He knew he would see her again, probably soon, but he had to back away for the present.
Outside the restaurant, Dani stepped close to Dacque, kissed him on the cheek, and gave him a long, strong, embrace. "Thank you for popping into my life. I hate to think of where I might have tumbled to if you had not come along, or should that be, was sent along? I will start thanking God in my prayers for sending you to me. Probably, I will not try to meet you again for a while, and instead devote my full attention to finding another job. We have each other's number, when needed. Bye for now."
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Soul Awakening is part of the 12 days of Christmas feature here at Downright Fiction. Every day will see a new chapter excerpt on the website. Come back for Chapter 4 tomorrow!
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Doug Simpson is a retired high school teacher who has turned his talents to writing. His magazine and website articles have been published in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France and India. Soul Awakening is his first novel. Read more about Doug at dousimp.mnsi.net!
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