One Last Spin Part 1

One Last Spin

1

Ryan Sampson arrived on scene Thursday at 7:37.  He and his EMT partner, Sarah  Rollerson, received the call only ten minutes ago and came out as quickly as they could.  A very shaken Larry Luck greeted them at the door.  “Hurry!  I don’t think he’s breathing!”

Indeed, he was not.  Sitting in a lift chair, the TV on the Wheel of Fortune, a bucket of chicken from the Chicken Hut in one hand, a framed picture of a woman clutched in his other hand, his eyes stared glassily at the television.

Elbert Luck had had his last Dark Day.  The price of the special would no longer be relevant.

2

Down the hallowed corridors of South Georgia State College she glided, high and happy, delighted that she was finally starting the course that would reshape her life.  Tabitha Steel was on her way to becoming a scientist.

Wait!  Was that Cokie Goodkind coming down the hall?  Oh, she didn’t want to run into him and start THAT conversation.  Franny was not happy with her.  She said she was ‘ghosting’ the ghost hunter, slipping out of his life by disappearing, giving no explanation.

She ducked into a nearby empty classroom.  She breathed a sigh of relief as he went by without noticing her.  From behind, she heard an “Ahem!” as someone cleared their throat.  She turned and saw….

Captain Kirk!  “I told you to get ready for the Starfleet, Ensign Steel!  I didn’t tell you to give up people you care about!”

Tabby’s hair stood up.  “W-what did you say?”  She rubbed her eyes.

It wasn’t Captain Kirk.  It was an elderly Professor.  “I said, if you’re here for Astronomy, you’re very early!  Class doesn’t start for another hour!”

“Oh, my!  Beam me up out of here already,” Tabby muttered to herself.

But there was no beaming.  At least not that day.

3

“Oh, Franny!  I know it’s for the best, and I wish you the best, and..and you are the best!”  Grace Donnelly, owner of the Honey Dew, hugged Franny, hugging her like she never wanted to let her go, hugging her like they would be separated forever.  Short, obese Grace was one of the few adults who could hug Franny and actually still look up at her.

“Oh, I’ll be around, Grace!  You can count on that,” assured Franny.  “I just want to concentrate on this first semester at Coastal Pines, and get my school sea legs on.  If I can balance things out, I may be back, at least part time.”  Franny realized as she said it, she was just trying to make the separation better.  She was much more likely to try to get work at Crowley Baptist Retirement Village or another senior center.  If things broke the way she wanted them to, her waitressing days were behind her.

“Well, you know you’re always welcome here, any ol’ time!”  Franny finally was able to gently pull herself from Grace’s smothering hug.  Grace had been a wonderful boss and a great friend.  She had always stuck up for Franny, even when she was being hassled by those rich Crowley boys.  Grace stuck up for what was right, not just for who had money and power.  And now it was hard to believe that Freddy had come out of the closet (hitting on her the way he did must have just been cover for him – he seemed like a much more pleasant person now that he could be what he was).  And Digger being arrested for two murders – well, you just never knew.

Franny turned to her companion and extended her hand.  “You coming?”  Adam Gernett took her hand and they left the Honey Dew together.  This time he was not in a daze, as Franny led him away months ago, blindly smitten by Racine Steel.  And this way, this time, his hand felt warm and alive in the hand of someone whom he loved, and whom loved him back.

Love was a wonderful, illuminating thing.