Alice and LOST in the Dead Grey of Winter

 
   
In the dead grey of winter I began watching LOST on Netflix streaming

 from the pilot forward.  My intention was to inject myself with some tropical visuals

 to shore up my sagging spirit. You see, winter is my most unfavorite season.

 I find nothing wonderful about the wet and cold of the northwestern United States…

I am more of a fair weather and sunshine girl.

Spring is still six weeks out and I am looking forward to hiking the Columbia River Gorge

 and its many rugged & scenic trails. In the meantime, it is what it is.

I have one little concern: I am now hooked on this dang LOST series and like a great novel,

I don’t feel like I’ll be able to simply stop before the end.

 It is such high drama with so many twists and turns and the characters are

dynamic and engaging like the best soap opera only set in paradise.

Irresistible, really, but I am growing a winter ass and it needs to be tightened and

 God knows fresh air would do me a world of good…

 Do you know how I know that I am positively addicted?

 I am sitting in front of an episode of LOST writing this on a yellow tablet!

In the next moment, as I am dwelling on winter, I think of a winter some years ago

 and a woman I met. Her name was Alice. She has a right to her privacy, so no last name

and no certain location will identify the incident. I am remembering the time I spent with Alice

 and how we were cruelly separated.

Alice in the Dead of Winter

I was a night counselor at a mental health facility

She was a patient I conversed with most evenings

of my shift- Her name was Alice

She said she had splitting headaches so bad

she had tried to jump off the I-5 Bridge

and that was why she was there

I said, Wow that was some bad headache!

She laughed a little and then winced-Ow!

It still hurts

In a surge of compassion I asked if she

had tried an old folk remedy: banana peels

You rub the inside white part on your

temples and forehead

She brightened with hope: I would try

Anything she said…

I brought her bananas my next shift

I was released from my position a

short time later

To this day I wonder about Alice and

if the banana peels helped…I also wonder

if my suggestion was why I was let go…

Raintreepoet