Short Story told with Love

This is just a reminder that what appears here as fact is the memories of an old man that has told so many stories so many times that fact and fiction may have been intertwined.  With the passing of time, Obscure little moments get blurred and I can only tell you what I tell you and remind you that my reality is only my reality....

Many years ago in Wichita, I attended Minneha Baptist Church mostly because my mother made me.  I eventually stopped going  because I worked  on Sunday and was busy earning enough money to support my car and a girlfriend.  When I was about 15 or so, there was a blond haired girl in our church that caught my eye.   Sheila was a cute girl with a pretty smile and nice attitude about things that I found fairly compatible.  As I recall, I only had one date with her as she had taken a shine to that Dewayne Molen and not me.  The reason I am telling this story is that yesterday I got news that Sheila passed on and this is as near to a tribute as I could get.   By the way, Sheila married Dewayne and live her life near Wichita.

Moving on, or back to the story.  Sheila's mother, Bonnie, was darn near the Fried Chicken Champion cook in the whole world.  One time the girls took a box of food to a church social and who ever bought the box in the auction got to eat dinner with the girl.   I cheated and watched Sheila go in to the kitchen and and when she put down her box, I saw what color it was and I bought it in the auction.  In that box was several pieces of Bonnie's wonderful chicken and I think just eating that chicken was about the best deal a young man could ever get.  From that day on, I made it my goal to get invited over to Sheila's house for a Sunday lunch of that chicken.

The details of how I managed to get invited over elude me now, but one Sunday I did manage to get an invite.  All I can tell you was the entire meal exceeded my expectations and had I died right after that lunch, I would have died happy.  Her biscuits and chicken gravy were about the best I had eaten anywhere.

After lunch, we all went into the living room and sat down for a nice talk.  Bonnie got this serious look on her face and told us,  "You two are too young to be getting serious."  In my estimation, that was true but I hadn't even really held Sheila's hand, let alone kissed her.  Sheila looked her mom in the eye and said, "Mom you do realize that I am almost a year older than you were when you had me."  Marriage and kids, all I was there for was the chicken dinner.  I excused myself as quickly as I could and never worked hard to get invited over for another chicken dinner. 

My life got full after that time and I kind of lost track of Sheila except for updates I got from my mother.  It was only in the past couple of years that I became friends with her on Facebook and that's how I found out about her death this week. 

MUD