Lamented Space!

Waste not! Want not!

     Star-nostalgia softened bright brown eyes as she slipped in memory to a time far off where she reveled in the solace of a time gone by; people she loved, too. He listened to her gentle words.

     “My grandpa kept a tin cup hanging on the handle of the diverter junction connection on the downspout which allowed him to fill the cistern with water when it rained and send it away when the container was full.” She smiled at the pleasant memory.

     “Next to the cistern was a ‘dug’ well; you know the kind, lined with limestone gathered on the farm so underground water could seep in. A pump operated by a handle brought the water to the spout. They used it to irrigate the yard garden, water the chickens, cattle and porkers and such.

     “But, when Grandpa got that tin down, Oh! Boy! What a treat. Sweeter than---Candy!”

     She laughed aloud at her little “private” joke; “Candy” is her name, short for Candice; I chuckled, too, enjoying her walk down memory lane, as it were.

     Ah! The simple things: then---and…now! One need not search for happy pleasure; it’s here!

     “And, the tin cup…” I began, interrupting her joyous reverie; quickly, she corrected me.

     “Not a ‘cup’,” she corrected my intrusion, politely, but, pointedly, “an empty soup tin can.”

     “Oh!” I acquiesced, laughing, “that makes the whole story so much better.”

     “Yes!” She exclaimed, slightly teasing my own presented loving tease at her sincerity.

     She closed her eyes, as if tasting the delight once again.

     “Sweeter than store bought five cent candy,” she breathed, sensing the coolness of the drink.

     I squeezed her hand softly three times, then, with our “secret” signal saying, “I love you!”

     Immediately, she reciprocated with her gentle silent reply, “I love you, too!”

     “The old ones were plenty smart,” I surmised. “Knew value and how to enjoy life. Could Make-do. Younng people have it all but have nothing; old people had nothing but had it all.”

     “Yes!” She agreed, an aura-glow of warmth speaking a deep, comforting feeling of love for people, places and things removed from her present. But alive in her precious memory.

     Holding her hand, I commented in summation, “Waste not! Want not!”

Amen!