Imagine That...

 As my classmates and I are dismissed from school, I decide to take the long way to my bus stop. For I have quite some thinking to do. I watch the birds fly. The squirrels scrambling for shelter as the howling wind picks up. The leaves slowly falling down onto the ever so, frozen, hard-packed ground. And then I see a woman. She's quite old. Maybe 80, or so. She's sitting on a bench. The one I usually sit on. She looks rather happy, for her age. I have no other choice but to sit next to the old woman. As I sit down on the bench, the woman tilts her head and looks over at me."What's your name, sonny boy?" I am baffled over her tone of voice! It's quite soothing, if I do say so myself. "Jed. Jed Wilson." I say with some hesitation creeping into my voice. After all, she is a stranger. "Well then, Jed. Would you like to hear a rather... Fascinating story?" The old woman said with a grin. I look down at my watch. 2:48. "I have 12 minutes until my bus arrives, so, why not. I say with a very much forced smile. The old woman turns and positions herself, so that she is looking right at me.

                                              And the story began:

"There was a boy. About your age, I reckon. Blonde tousled hair, and blue eyes. Very high spirited." The old woman said with a chuckle. "The boy had an older sister. Her name was Rose. She was about 15 and a half years old. Always out and a 'bout. Getting her nails done. Hanging out with friends. Going to the mall. You know. Teenage girl stuff." The woman said with a smile. "One evening, the girl came home with tears streaming down her face. The girl said nothing, as she ran upstairs. The parents didn't even acknowledge her, which made the boy mad and confused. The boy decided to go and check on his sister. He stood outside of the girl's closed door and knocked. "Hey. You ok?" After the boy got no response, he decided to go in. But she wasn't there. The thing is, she was never really there. Because the boy's sister... died at child-birth. And when the boy found out that she was gone, he just... Broke.                                                                                                                                                     24 years later,                                                                        

The boy, now a grown man, had a boy of his own. One afternoon, when the boy came home from school, he asked his parents, "Who is auntie Rose?" The parents were shocked and confused. For, the boy didn't have an aunt named Rose. The next day, at school, the boy asked all of his teachers and friends, "Who is Auntie Rose?" But he got no answer. 6 years later, the boy, now a teenager, decided to take the bus home, instead of walking. At the bus stop, the teen boy found an old woman waiting for him, sitting on the bench. "Well, hello there!" The old woman said with a smile. "What's your name?" The teen boy was a little shy at first but managed to cough up enough courage. "Jed. Jed Wilson. And you, Ma'am?" The old woman smiled. "You can call me Auntie Rose."

                                   The End