Chapter 7: Blind Man On the Corner


Alanis walked down the street. It was colder than most May days in Tulsa. Everything was feeling different today. Like everything was perfect and mapped out. Like everything was going just the way Alanis intended it. Alanis felt strange.
Alanis decided she wasn't going home. She wasn't going back to the bruises and broken bones, no way in hell.
Alanis sat down on the bench at the bus stop and sighed.

"You're lonely young lady. Like me, you are lonely" a voice said. Alanis looked up in surprise. There sat an old man. He had an old fisherman's hat on, he had a gray beard and wrinkles that spread across his face like mountains. There was a smile on his lips as he looked at her through thick sunglasses. His wrinkles grew deeper as his grin grew broader. Alanis grew very afraid of this man as he drew closer to her. Just when she expected him to grab her and slit her throat, he whispered in her ear "All is not lost with a scratch of fear, child" and then he leaned back to where he had been sitting before. Alanis cocked her head sideways at the stranger. He chuckled then said; "You have pretty blue eyes Alanis" Alanis's eyes grew wide.
"W- who are you? How do you know my name?"
"I know all child. I see all. But I cannot see at all" the man said and removed his glasses. Alanis peered curiously into the bright pools of nothingness. 'He's blind' Alanis thought. The old man chuckled again. "Yes, blind as a grandpa bat!" the old man laughed. "Alanis, child, hope is not lost with bruises and broken bones. Do not runaway from your problems. Solve them and learn that the future will much better if you do not run. There is a boy who will follow you if you do. And he will get hurt because of it. And his loved ones will hurt. This blonde haired blue eyed boy will follow you. He will seek you out. But in the end you will have neither the boy nor justice of the problems for which you seek help. Find those who have faith in you, who love you and would never let go and you will find true happiness. Terror will come one day, child. And that day you will have to face it. Running will never solve it. It never did for me" then the old man looked down and into Alanis's bright blue eyes "I want you to sing a song with me" he said.
"A song?"
"A song" the old man said in a calm voice.
The blind man cleared his throat. The first notes came as a whisper. Like a breeze, small and gentle at first then strong like winds, the notes of the song began to flow from the man's weathered lips.

"I was walking home from school
On a cold winter day
Took a short cut through the woods
And I lost my way
It was gettin' late
And I was scared and alone
Then a kind old man
Took my hand and led me home
Momma couldn't see him,
But he was standin' there
I knew in my Heart
He was the answer to my prayers"

The old man looked at Alanis's face and she began the chorus with him.
"I believe there are angels among us
Sent down to us from some where up above
They come to you and me in our darkest hours
To show us how to live,
To teach us how to give
To guide us with a light of love!"
Soon the old man looked down at Alanis and smiled, leaving her to sing the rest.
"My name is Sam. Anytime you need a little guidance, when you have no light to guide you and no one to walk beside you; I will come to you. Just call my name and old Sam will be there for ya" the old man whispered in Alanis's ear. Alanis looked up to thank him but he was no where in sight. As Alanis looked all around her, a single white feather fell gracefully at Alanis's feet. She bent to pick it up. 'Could he? No that's impossible' she thought and carefully put the feather in her pocket.
Then she lifted her chin and turned back to exactly the same place she had come from, Zac's house.