Fresh Scents

(This one was written on Feb. 6-again with the theme/word of the day theme. Forgive me for posting an older one. I hope, still to write at least something short on or by Sunday, but I'm crazy busy with a wedding and prepping for the big bday party...)

Fresh Scents

(Word/Theme of Day Feb. 6, 2013)

Lucy silently smiled to herself. Turning 88 in such a world, was a true feat, one she had never wanted. It would have been better for her to go with the others, all those years ago, when the sky went dark for a long, long time. Were it not for little Juliette, she would have purposely joined the others in the here after, the great nothing, or whatever happens when we die. The bond between the old woman, and her granddaughter was strong, and even stronger, when she was all the little girl had left. Her parents, killed instantly in the impact, had often left Juliette with her grandmother while they traveled for work.  When it was clear they were dead, Juliette did not weep. They wept more for the loss of the flowers, the animals, and the innocence of the life they once knew. They were grateful Grandpa Charley did not live to see the apocalypse. They remembered him, smiling, smoking cigars, working with leather goods in his tool shed. Those were truly good days. Lucy, always digging in her flower garden, while Juliette munched freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, asking questions about the newest exotic location of her parents travels.

Just 5 years before the explosions, Cancer took Grandpa Charley. Right before he passed away, he said to Juliette:

"Make sure you look after your Grandma. Know that I love you, and I'm always with you and she. One day, we will all be together again. Time is nothing on the other side. Believe."

The darkness fell unexpectedly. Thanks to their connections, they didn't have to fight as hard as others to survive. An ugliness fell upon the world. Fear, death and desperation threatened everything.  Thanks to elaborate tunnels and shelters, meant only for the elite, they made it through two decades underground.  Eventually it was time to rebuild the surface. 

Juliette thrived in the gray, lifeless world, while Lucy looked after her. Eventually Juliette married a well connected scientist, much like the father she had hardly known. It pained her to know she was the reason her Grandmother didn't take the death pills, like so many others.  At the same time, she was grateful her grandmother had sacrificed quick entry into a better world out of love for her.  Eventually, it also pained Juliette to see her proud grandmother, a woman who had seen her through the horrors of the end of world, decline in health because of age. Memories and functions faded as the thought of Lucy's dementia terrified them both.

Lucy did, in fact, decline suicide in order to look after Juliette. She also believed it would be better to wait for other reasons. It was Juliette, herself who invented Fresh Scents. And the two decided, once the process was perfected, Lucy should be the first to try it. 

The secret laboratory looked the same as every other hanger in the government compound. As she walked inside, dressed in her finest clothes, she marveled at the recreation of her old garden. She was so proud Juliette had discovered how to make things grow once more, even if they only survived for a short time. Juliette opened a bottle of 1929  Chateau Margaux, in honor of the occasion. Lucy took a sip, set down the glass, and held Juliette in a tight embrace.

"Thank you for my birthday present."

Juliette's eyes filled. "I love you, Grandma."

As Lucy laid down in the chamber, the Fresh Scents mask was placed over her face. First the smell of dirt and cotton growing in the fields; running in the sunshine. The smell of her mother's freshly laundered aprons, warm lazy days in a beautiful world. Freshly baked cookies. The smell of sweat, a distinct smell, the smell of her first and only love: Charles. Aroma of Champagne and wedding cake, the smell of hospital - Avery's birth. The smell of hospital, Avery's daughter, Juliette's birth. The smell of babies, of love, pure love. Lilacs and Daffodils in her own garden. The smell of her precious Juliette's long hair shining in the long forgotten sun. All beautiful smells, wafted in and out, restoring all that was lost. Finally, the smell of leather and tobacco. The mask filled the chamber. 

"Charley! Charley my love! I'm finally here!"

Charley pushed through the light, grabbed Lucy and pulled her to his center. She smiled once again as he whispered, "Time and space, are nothing to Lovers. Welcome home."