The Finale?? Maybe … Maybe Not!

Why the question marks after my title?  If you have been following my story ,A Mama for Anna  you will understand. Is this really the End?  Will it become a series?  Your guess is probably as good as mine! With this story my  “followers” have had a large say in it, so I am just taking a deep breath, diving in, and waiting with baited breath to find out.

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“Cock a doodle doo!” The rooster was loudly greeting the new day, but Julia sure didn’t feel like it. The baby had been kicking her all night long. Now it had finally decided to take a break from it acrobatics. Julia may be tired, but she couldn’t help but smile, while rubbing her stomach.

“Have I told you how much I love your smile, my sweet Buttercup?”  Luke said, as he put his arm around her and Julia snuggled her head against his shoulder.

“Only about a hundred times, but whose counting.” she quietly said, with her eyes still closed, breathing out a contented sigh.

They laid in bed for a little while longer, until Luke gave her a soft kiss. “You do make it harder to get out of bed in the morning.”

She gave him a little nudge, saying, “Oh but you have to go, for sweet Betsy and the other cows are calling your name. Plus, now I can spread out on the bed”, and she gave him a little push.

“Oh, I see how it is!”, laughing, he got out of bed and got dressed, as Julia sprawled out in the middle of the bed.

“Just remember, I like my bacon crispy, not my toast!” he quickly went out the bedroom door, dodging the pillow that Julia threw.  Julia smiled as the door shut, she would just close her eyes for a few more minutes and then start breakfast. Yes, poor Luke had to put up with several burnt offerings in the beginning, but she had greatly improved! He just couldn’t resist being a tease!

Meanwhile back in town, Miss. Jill, the fabric store owner was having quite the morning. She had spilled her coffee on herself when she went to sit down. Then she couldn’t find the salt to put on her scrambled eggs.

She also wasn’t looking forward to dealing with Miss.Delaney today. Jill had her dress all made for her. She knew though that  Miss.Delaney, she would find something wrong with it. The lady was so hard to please! Jill had to bite her tongue several times around her. She let out a sigh and then spied the salt shaker and shook it all over her eggs.  Took a big bite and her eyes got watery.  What was red pepper doing in her salt shaker! She smacked her head!

The Chicken Man was on his 3rd cup of coffee at the “Fluffer Nutter Shoppe”. He had just successfully beat Mr.Fluffer at checkers for the third time in a row.  “We need to play poker”, Mr.Fluffer said. The Chicken Man smiled, leaning back in his chair.

“Hey, I never told you guys what happened a couple weeks ago when I was in the woods.”  the Chicken Man said. He went on to explain to them about meeting the young girl, whose name was Anna, and seeing her a few times after that, among the trees

His friends listened intently, and Mr.Nutter shook his head, not seeming surprised.

“Have you guys never heard about the legend that has been told over the years?”

The Chicken Man and Mr. Fluffer, both shook their heads “No”.

Mr.Nutter leaned began to rock as he shared the story. “Legend says that long ago there was a little girl at a train station looking for her Mama. Others had seen her, but as quickly as she came she disappeared. No one knew her story. People have seen her in the woods from time to time, but just like your experience, no one has been able to talk with her long enough to learn much about her. She just runs off.”

Mr. Fluffer spoke up, “That is intriguing, never had heard about it,  but I did hear the mystery surrounding the little white cross.”

The Chicken Man and Mr. Nutter, nodded their heads, that was a mystery that everyone was aware of, but people were split on what they thought.

There was a little white cross in the fields where Mr.Luke Shadow lived. He was known to all as a gentleman and people felt very sorry about what had happened to his wife, but no one quite knew for sure what the little white cross in his fields was for. They had heard that it was a memorial to his wife, but some didn’t buy that explanation. They thought there was more to the story than what he was telling, even though he had repeated the story often. Were their actual bones buried under the cross and if so, who or what did they belong too?

“I went to see Mr.Shadow once, and had Charlie with me. He couldn’t stop sniffing around that little white cross. Mr.Shadow watched him closely out of the corner of his eye and seemed nervous to me as we were talking.” the Chicken Man said.

There was silence as they all wondered about the two mysteries for a little bit.

” Well, I know one thing we all can be sure of…. I bet that I can win another game of checkers.” said the Chicken Man.

“No, we are playing poker this time, get the chips,” Mr. Fluffer said.

“But I ate them!” replied Mr. Nutter.

Mr. Fluffer smacked his head with his hand and the Chicken Man rolled his eyes.

Mr. Nutter laughed as he went to get the chips and they all started playing.

While everyone was going about their day, no one seemed to notice the shadow of the little girl, with the chestnut brown hair kneeling beside the little white cross in the field.