The post about giving at this time of year caused me to start thinking about Mary. Then I breakdown and cry, thinking about how things could have been differant if only something small had been differant years ago.
Back in 1971 while going to University Of Alaska, Fairbanks. I met a young woman named Mary. She was tall, vibrant, dark brown hair, brown eyes, and one of the most bubbly personalities you could meet. We dated for several months, and we became very close, and intamate. One thing I did learn about Mary was she was real paranoid about Fairbanks flooding. She had been caught in the flood waters of the 68 flood and almost drown.
I also met Leanna during that time. Leanna was a hot little red head, with a body to kill for. I let myself be drawn away from Mary, and ended up marrying Leanna. I then left Alaska, often thinking of Mary. I especially thought of Mary when three years later Leanna and I got divorced. But Mary was in the past and I had no way of knowing what had happened to her.
I met Michelle in Pheonix and we got married in 1977. In 1985 Michelle and I was reassigned to Eielson AFB here in Alaska. One day I saw this old bag lady, pushing a shopping cart, wearing an orange Life Vest. The type that goes over your head and keeps you on your back with your head above water. I thought there goes a real Loon. I retired and we moved away in 1989. We returned to Fairbanks when Michelle retired in 1996. Now I worked in Fairbanks and I saw the old bag lady more and more as I spent more time in Fairbanks. I saw her getting into confrontations with drunks, and other street people. I asked who she was but no one seemed to know or care. all they could tell me was that she did not talk. I sort of felt sorry for her, wondering what had happened to her to cause her to be in that sort of shape.
Back five years ago, during the winter just before Christmas, I was in town and saw a commotion going on in the doorway of a business. I went over to the area and there lay the old bag lady. She had been lying in the cold for many hours, and was suffering from hypothermia. I took my coat off and put it around her while waiting for an ambulance. I knelt there and talked to her while we waited, trying to keep her concious. The old lady never said a word. Finally the ambulance arrived, and the ambulance crew started calling her Mary. At that point it had no meaning to me. As they got her ready to load on the ambulance she screamed "stop". The ambulance crew was shocked, they had never heard her speak before. Mary held out her arm to me, I moved close and she said, "Thank you Roggie" then laid back and went to sleep. I was confussed, I had not told her my real name and no one calls me that anymore, how did she know me? Then it hit me who she was. I followed the ambulance to the hospital, but Mary did not survive the trip.
I wonder if I had not met Leanna, or had not fallen head over heels for her, what would Mary's life have been like?
