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Sometimes on a nice warm day an elderly man sits on the bench and reads a book. His bookmark is a picture of his beloved, departed wife. sometimes he reads out loud to her. In his mind she is still with him and he is holding her hand. Sometimes when he reads tears roll down his face because he misses her so much. Only the bench knows of his sorrow and it keeps its secrets. Two young SCAD students sit there sometimes and compare notes and study together. They are best friends and have been for years. They talk about boys they like and plan what they will do when they finish school. If they will be close or miles apart. They hope to be close. The bench hears their secrets but its not talking. It has a way of keeping secrets. There is a young teen that comes there. She has a bruise on her cheek. She sits there crying silently. Wonder why daddy gets drunk and hits her when he is angry. She didn't say anything that should have made him angry. She only asked permission to go to the soda shop with some friends. Why was that so wrong? Last night he hit mom because he didn't like what she made for dinner. What could she do? She and her mom needed help. Drying her tears and looking around she sees a paper caught in the bench. It tells about a safe shelter for battered families. How did that get there and could she get them to help? The bench knows how the paper got there. How the boards pinched it from a newspaper. But it keeping silent and not telling secrets. Then in early spring this year the bench gets a make over. It gets a new paint job. Its dark brown boards are like new again and its iron legs have had the rust removed and repainted. Its ready now for what ever secrets it must keep. neon_sapphire |