September: Fun Run

Written during September: Fun Run

September 1
The Sudden Silence

On the morning April turned forty, the world stopped.

Not dramatically. There were no explosions, no sirens, no sudden darkness swallowing the sky.

It simply… paused.

April noticed it first when she opened her bedroom curtains. The birds were frozen in midair.

One hung above the maple tree, wings spread as though someone had pressed a pause button in the middle of its song. Across the street, a delivery truck sat motionless at the intersection, its driver staring ahead. Even the rain that had been falling all night seemed suspended, tiny silver beads hanging against the morning light.

April touched the window. Nothing moved.

She looked at the clock. 7:14. The second hand wasn't moving. She waited.

Seven-fifteen never came.

For the first time in years, April felt something she couldn't remember feeling before.

Peace.

Complete, startling peace.

No phone ringing. No demands. No obligations. No memories chasing her from one room to another. Just silence.

Then, from somewhere deep inside the stillness, came a sound. Three slow knocks.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

April turned toward her apartment door. She crossed her arms. She didn't know what to do.

The world had stopped for her. But was it giving her a moment to breathe? Or was it waiting for something to arrive?

She took a hasty step toward the door, then another one, and then another...

Sept. 2

The Forgotten Promise

April opened the door and stepped out. Now she was standing in the middle of the silent street, her breath the only thing moving in a world that had forgotten how to move.

She looked at the sparrow hung above the telephone wires, wings outstretched as though painted onto the sky. Raindrops remained suspended like tiny glass beads. What was this? She was forty years old, and for reasons she could not understand, time had stopped for everyone and everything except her.

She turned back and went inside her apartment, thinking she might find a clue to all this weird nonsense that was around her. She opened a drawer inside the walnut cabinet that was once her grandmother's. In it she was keeping old things, things with memories, things she had promised herself that she'd keep since those could remind her of where and what she had been.

April reached into the drawer and stopped when her hand found a small wooden box she had not seen in decades. Inside lay a silver pocket watch that did not tick.

Folded beneath it was a note in her own childish handwriting.

"Dear Time, it read, I promise that when I grow up, I will not hurry past the important things. I will stop to notice the seasons, keep the people I love close, and remember that every moment is alive."

The memory returned all at once.

She had been eight years old, sitting beneath a great oak tree, when an old stranger with kind eyes had spoken to her.

“Time is not your enemy,” the stranger had said. “Treat it kindly, and one day it may return the favor.”

Yet, life had become busy. There had been deadlines, losses, worries, and endless rushing. She had forgotten birthdays, postponed visits, and set aside dreams for “someday.”

Could that be why time had paused, waiting for her, now?

Time had not stopped because something terrible was coming.

Time had stopped because it was waiting for her.

Waiting for her to keep her promise.

April held the silent watch in her hands. Suddenly, she understood what must be done. Suddenly, she had understood the secret.

She promised again. "I will live the life I kept delaying."

The moment she finished her words, the pocket watch gave a single, gentle tick.

She looked at the window. Outside, the birds were completing their flights. The raindrops were falling.

Perhaps, somewhere, unseen, TIME had smiled and was moving forward once more.
-----
September 3

The Visitor


April took a deep breath and then a big bite from her cake. She was celebrating Time's giving her another chance. Yet, she wondered if this was a celebration or a verdict.

Who knew! Who really knew anything in this upside down, mixed-up world!

What was she going to do? From which end was she going to fix her life like she had promised Time? She looked around her cluttered apartment, and realized she had spent the last decade accumulating bitterness like dust on a windowsill.

That night, standing by her open window, she made a silent covenant with the dark. How was she going to make herself act better? She thought maybe all had to start with the heart. Didn't everything need a heart to succeed? So she decided she would soften her heart, let go of old grudges, and learn how to truly inhabit her own life. Then, for possibly the first time in her life, she knelt down and prayed.

The response to her prayer came three days later, not with a flash of lightning or anything fancy like it, but with a knock on her door.

Standing on her welcome mat was an elderly man in a faded navy cardigan. He carried a battered leather satchel and smelled faintly of cardamom and old paper.

"April," he said, his voice as warm as tea. "I am Tariq. I’ve come because you made a promise."

April blinked, holding the door tight. "A promise to who?"

"To Time," Tariq replied gently. "And to yourself. When a heart asks so sincerely to change, the universe takes notice. I am your guide. I’ve been assigned to assist you."

April showed him in, wondering from where Time had found this man? Who was this man, really? How could he help her!

Tariq, as if he read her thought smiled. "I'm an old man, not of this world. When I lived in this forsaken planet, I had become a Sufi, Surely, that was only a step but it led to me being assigned as a guide to those who need a guide.

April scoffed, her instinctual skepticism flaring. "My guide? A Sufi? I don't even practice Sufism. I'm just an woman who works in an office, who's tired of being miserable."

"It does not matter what name you give the river, April, so long as you are willing to swim," Tariq said with a quiet smile.

He then stepped toward the door. "I won't always be standing before you like this. In fact, most of the time, you won't see me at all. But when help arrives, when a subtle shift happens just when you need it, you will know it is me."

Before April could ask for a rational explanation, Tariq opened the door, stepped out into the hallway, and turned the corner of the stairwell,

The next minute, he had vanished into the thin air.

In the weeks that followed, April thought about this strange encounter. She didn't know what to make of it. She didn't until the small miracles began.

Her transformation wasn't magical, really. It was deeply, sometimes uncomfortably, practical.

When her short-tempered boss began yelling during a Monday morning meeting, April felt her usual fiery defense rising in her throat. But just before she could snap back, a cool breeze swept through the air-conditioned room, carrying the distinct, fleeting scent of cardamom.

Her pulse slowed. A sudden, uncharacteristic wave of empathy washed over her, allowing her to see the panic behind her boss's anger. She responded with calm grace, leaving the entire room astonished, including herself.

Later that month, stranded on a rainy highway with a flat tire, she felt the panic rise. Suddenly, a passerby pulled over. That passerby happened to be a woman who happened to be a mechanic heading home from work. As the woman changed the tire, April noticed a faded blue thread woven into the mechanic’s keychain, identical to the frayed hem of Tariq's sweater. A quiet certainty settled in her chest: He is here.

Tariq never micromanaged her life. Instead, his presence was an invisible hand nudging her toward her best self.

Other incidents happened and in most of them, April felt Tariq's hand. When she felt a sudden urge to forgive an old friend, the unexpected patience she found for a difficult neighbor, and the quiet stillness that replaced her late-night anxieties, she knew it was Tariq guiding her.

She thought, maybe, trying to become a better person wasn't a solitary burden. She was walking a path mapped by an unseen guide, learning that grace often arrived unannounced. She knew that Tariq's help was disguised as a moment of stillness precisely when she need it the most.

But then, what about her? What about April? Was Tariq doing all the work? What if he disappeared for good? Could April handle the burden of keeping her promise on her own?

September 4

On Caring

She'd never know that, would she! But her resolve was there, anyhow. She'd keep her promise, with or without Tariq's help.

After all, it was her promise and Tariq was the element to speed it up. This thought gave April some courage. What would she do with this courage, she didn't know, but certainly she would try.

April was thinking these thoughts, one day, until after she stepped off the elevator and left the building and the office of Aurora Data in which she worked as a data analyst.

Outside, she took a long breath of fresh air and wondered how she could stand to work in a closed space as her office. Instead of going to the parking lot for her car, she began walking. She thought she'd just walk around the block and then come back to get her car.

After she had walked a few steps, she noticed in an empty lot the children, four young boys all, with sticks in their hands. They were hitting something small and black that was cowering at the side of a building.

April stopped. She took a careful look at the black thing. The black thing moved and looked at her, "Meow" it said in a very sad tone.

April screamed and the boys froze holding their sticks in the air. "Aren't you ashamed of yourselves to go after a tiny cat?" she yelled.

Some boys took a few steps back, but the tallest of them said, "None of your business, lady!"

"It is my business. You are hurting an animal."

'Hey Lady, don't you see, that cat is working for the devil.'

"What! Who says? That's crazy!"

"It is a black cat and black cats work for the devil."

April rolled her eyes. "You have black hair. Are you working for the devil, too?"

"It's not the same," the boy muttered.

April reached for her cellphone and held it in her hand. "The police are on their way. I think they'll decide on the guilt of anyone with black hair, be it cat or boy."

As soon as she finisher her words, the sound of a police siren tore through the air. All the kids ran away, some throwing their sticks at the empty lot as they ran.

April smiled. She hadn't called the police at all. She only had the time to barely understand what was happening. She walked toward the cat. The cat was still shivering with fear.

"Hello, kitty!" she talked gently to the cat before touching it. The cat opened its eyes and looked at her. April gently lifted the cat and held it close to her chest. The cat gave a few faint meows. It was still shivering with fear.

"Let's see what we can do with you," April whispered. Then, holding the cat she turned back and walked toward the parking lot of Aurora Data where her car was waiting for her and the cat.

----------------

September 5
The Doctor/Veterinarian

The cat meowed a bit when April put her on the passenger's seat. Was the cat hurt with maybe broken bones due to the whacks from those kids' sticks? She had to take him to a vet immediately.

She searched for the nearest vet around on her cellphone. One of them was only couple of streets away. What if the cat had to be put down?

She looked at the cat and shivered. Why was she investing so much emotion in an animal that would probably be a burden in the long run, that is if it lived? She looked at the cat again. She hadn't even checked if it was male or female. The cat was looking at April, with its green eyes wide open. She petted the cat gently and felt for its backsides. It was a female cat. "Hello, young lady," April said. The cat gave a short meow. "You like being called a lady, don't you! So, maybe you're Lady, after all!"

What was she doing naming the cat, as if she could keep her? But Lady did fit the cat's regal black color and her emerald green eyes. April smiled at the cat as she shook her head in disbelief. Disbelief that she was talking to a cat and hoping the cat could live.

April turned on the ignition as she stroke the cat to calm it when the car came to life and moved.

The veterinary office smelled faintly of disinfectant, rubbing alcohol, and something warm and animal-like. A large aquarium bubbled quietly against one wall, while framed photographs of dogs and cats covered another. Somewhere behind a closed door, a dog barked once, followed by the jingling of metal instruments.

April sat on the edge of a plastic chair, holding Lady on her lap. Now the cat pressed herself against April and was watching everything.

The door opened, and a possibly middle-aged handsome veterinarian stepped into the room. He wore a white coat over blue scrubs and had a pair of reading glasses perched low on his nose.

"Hello, I'm Daniel Nash. And you?"

" April Ruditz. Nice to meet you Dr. Nash."

"Oh, just call me Dan. I hate the long name. My nurse left already for the day, but let me see what I can do for you. "

Then he looked at the cat. “Well,” he said with a gentle smile, “who do we have here?”

“I'm not sure,” April replied. “I found her about an hour or so ago. She's a stray.”

The veterinarian stared at the cat and petted her gently. “Do you know how long she’s been on her own?”

“No. But she looks like she hasn't been eating very well.”

"She'll need a carrier," he said. "I think I might have one I could give you." Then,, he looked at the cat. "She certainly looks frightened."

April took a deep breath. "I found her in an empty lot a couple of streets away. Some kids with sticks were trying to beat her up."

"Oh oh! Poor kitty! Let's go to the inside examining room. I think you should bring her in there. She seems to trust you."

"I hope she trusts me," April sighed. "I now call her Lady. As soon as I brought her to my car, that name popped up in my head."

The veterinarian looked at April for a moment before answering.

“I think animals know more than we give them credit for.”

Inside the examining room, the veterinarian moved slowly. He gently placed one hand along her back while examining her coat. He parted the fur in several places, checking the skin beneath it.

“She's underweight,” he said. “And she's got quite a few fleas. Nothing we can't deal with.”

April watched anxiously.

"Is she hurt? Does she have broken bones?"

"Let's not assume the worst. I'll Xray him to be sure." He reached to vial inside a box and dropped a few drops of liquid on Lady's tongue.
The cat immediately pulled her head away.

“Well, she has opinions.”

Lady meowed and edged toward April.

"This should calm her." Dan Nash, the veterinarian, said as he took a couple of straps from a nearby closet.

Although the Xray took only seconds, putting the straps on the cat became a chore.

When the examination was over, the veterian leaned against the counter. “No broken bones and she has a good chance. She's thin, but I don't see anything immediately alarming. What she really needs is food, rest, warmth, and someone willing to give her a little time." He looked at April. "Are you up for it?”

April nodded.

"I scanned her for a microchip but she doesn't have any. That means no previous owner. So you're it. "

April smiled. "Okay, but what happens to her while I'm at work?"

"She learn to wait for you during the day. That's all."

What had she just gotten herself into! Then, she looked at Lady who was probably medicated enough to fall asleep, but Lady opened one eye and meowed at April.

Dan Nash looked at April with a serious expression. "So, are you keeping her? Or do you need a few days to decide?"

April sighed. "I think I already made me decision. I'm keeping her. She's my Lady."

Dan Nash smiled. "I had a feeling you might."

-------

September 6
The Key-chain

"Lady? A nice name, indeed!" Dan Nash said. "But still, what if someone might be looking for her, even if she doesn't have a microchip?"

April nodded, though something inside her tightened.

Dan Nash noticed. "You don't want to give her up."

April looked at Lady. "No!" The answer came so quickly that they both smiled.

"I thought so," Dan Nash said, then he returned his attention to the cat. "She's lucky!"

"Why?" April looked at him.

"Because she found you."

His words caught her unexpectedly. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then, Lady chose that moment to reach out one paw and tap Daniel's wrist.

He laughed. "Well, apparently I'm forgiven."

"Don't get too comfortable," April said. "She might have moods."

"So do I."

April raised an eyebrow. "Is that something veterinarians usually admit to their clients?"

"Only the ones they like," Dan Nash said.

April laughed again, and Dan Nash seemed pleased that he had made her laugh. There was something warm and slightly shy about his expression, and April found herself wondering when she had last felt that kind of ease with a man.

He added, "Wait a bit, so I can get you the carrier and a few other emergency supplies you might need today."

"Thank you," April said. "I so appreciate your taking care of Lady, even after hours. I had no idea you were closing up."

"I'd never close up on my beautiful clients especially when they care so much about strays," Dan Nash said, as he pulled out a carrier from the storage and some cat food, together with a bag of cat litter. "Let's insert your lovely Lady in the carrier and I'll help you carry all those to your car."

Were all veterinarians this attentive? Or...what? The thought and its implication shook her as she reached into her handbag for her checkbook."

Clang! Her key chain fell of from her bag and she knelt down to reach for it under the examination table. But the chain had skidded to the other end. At that same moment, lady started meowing loudly.

Dan Nash had just finished placing Lady into the carrier. When he heard the sound of the key chain dropping down, he said, "Leave it! Here hold the carrier. Lady needs you at the moment. She doesn't seem to like the carrier much."

Then, he reached for her keys. When he handed it to her their fingers touched. They both smiled.

April was surprised. She certainly hadn't barged in to this veterinarians' office thinking about romance. She had come because of a cat she had just found.

Then, Daniel said, "No, don't pay me now. My nurse and attendant aren't here, anyway. Bring Lady back in two weeks. Then, we'll see what we can do.

April nodded, "Of course, I'll bring her. And thank you so very much."

He held the door open for her, but paused before she walked out. "If you have any trouble with her, please call at any hour."

"I will. Thank you."

"Any trouble at all, even the smallest thing."

April smiled, "Even if she decides to redecorate my place?"

"Especially then. "

Her car was right outside the building. He put her bags on the back seat, and secured the carrier on the passenger seat. "I'd normally ask my patients to keep the carriers on the back seat, but this Lady here seems to feel you near her more at this time."

"Thank you, Dr. Nash"

"Dan, please."

She hesitated, but said, "April."

He smiled and repeated her name. "April!" The way he said April made her look at him again. Although she wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was simply the kindness in his voice.

As she waved at him while pulling away, Dan Nash was still standing at the curb. When he saw her wave, he lifted his hand, too.

"You know," April whispered, "you've already caused me enough trouble."

The cat opened her green eyes and pushed her nose through the mesh on the covering of the carrier.

April laughed.

"I found you while you were getting beaten, and now I'm apparently making friends with your veterinarian."

Lady meowed again and whimpered.

April shook her head. "Don't look so innocent."

She didn't know it yet, but Lady had done more than find a home. She had quietly opened a door in April's life that had been closed for a very long time.

Suddenly, April her Tariq's voice, "Never live behind closed doors."

So it was Tariq again. Or was it?

For somewhere in front of that closed door was a man named Dan Nash, who was beginning to wonder when his new patient named Lady and the woman who had rescued her would be coming back.

Two weeks suddenly seemed like a very long time.