Runners and Walkers

A morning routine shattered

They were runners. Every morning Patty would see them through her window running past her house. There were nine of them, each with ear buds in their ears. There were three men and six women. No matter the weather they ran past her house every single day around 7:30.

Then the walkers came closer to 8:00. There were just two of them; an older couple. They, too, had ear buds in their ears. The man always had weights in his hands. They did not walk casually but rather with exaggerated movements, their eyes always focused forward, oblivious to everything around them save for an invisible goal up ahead.

Patty could set her clocks by the runners and walkers. She had been watching them every morning for so long that she had all their faces memorized. With the runners there was one particular man and woman couple who were always out in front of the rest. The two walkers always wore matching clothes.

In spring, winter and fall Patty would watch the runners and walkers through her large living room window. In summer she would watch them go by while sitting on her porch sipping her tea and eating her muffins. Never had any of those runners or walkers turned to notice her watching them.

One Tuesday late in June Patty brought her tea and muffins out to the porch at the same time in the morning she always did. As she sat down she was overcome by a strong foreboding feeling. Something was different. Something was wrong. At first she could not figure out what it was but then she realized that there were no birds singing. At that time in the morning there was always a symphony of birdsong but today there was not one single bird singing.

The air was eerily calm. Not a single leaf on any tree moved. There was no sound whatsoever.

After finishing her tea and muffins Patty looked at her watch. It was 8:05. The runners and walkers never passed her house! She got out of her chair and walked to the street curb. She looked down the street in the direction from which the runners and walkers came then she looked in the opposite direction where they always ran and walked to. The street was empty.

Patty’s confusion grew. Her morning routine had been profoundly disrupted. She suddenly had to know what happened to the runners and walkers and birds. She had to find them. After looking several times back and forth down the street she then looked at her feet. She was wearing her grandma slippers.

Suddenly she wondered what it would be like to be on the other side; to be a runner rather than a seventy-eight year old grandma watching the runners from her porch. She gave in to an inexplicable compulsion to start running. It had been over fifty years since she lasted jogged but she was filled with energy and an uncontrollable need to find out what happened to the runners and walkers and birds. In her grandma slippers she ran down the street in the same direction the runners and walkers went. She ran and ran and ran and ran until she finally collapsed.

The next morning the birds and their music were back and so, too, were the runners and walkers. The runners and walkers were oblivious of the birds, of course, because of the ear buds in their ears. This morning was different, though, because one of the runners actually turned her head briefly to look at Patty’s porch. She did not see Patty, though.

Patty was not there.

Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. This is a work of fiction. All Of White Feather’s Stories

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