The Easter Bunny And Me
There aren't any children, and for whatever reason she's been left to do what she likes best--Drink, Eat, and Sleep. Sally is plump and her five foot two height does not help hide the many rolls that continue to weigh her down sticking out like a sore thumb. Her long blond hair, usually nicely styled is matted and looks as if it hasn't seem a comb or been washed in a long, long time. Her attractiveness is still there, but one would have to look beyond the uncleanliness to actually see the twinkle in her emerald green eyes that hold the secret of beauty.
Every year it seems Sally goes through the same ordeal during Easter weekend. As the weekend appraoches things suddenly start to fall apart. Nothing seems to be as it should and like clockwork, she begins to fall apart.
The coming undone occurs when she leaves work the Wednesday before Good Friday. She's been working at Oxford press for approximately ten years. It's a pretty good position, and she's held onto it even though more times than none she's called in sick when in fact she could have made it in on those days. But, the triggers occur and she copes with them the best way she can.
Triggers are something uncontrollable. They can be large, but most often, they are minute. When many little triggers occur they accumulate into a large enough one to set a person off. Kinda like a gun going off, it happens and you cannot change it--what is done is done! In the case of Sally, she merely has to see the picture of an Easter Bunny--it's the biggest trigger of all.
She doesn't keep friends close, in fact, she chooses to remain aloof with most and declines all invitations. A few times she did attend some outings for work purposes, but that's pretty much it for any kind of a social life for Sally. It's too bad that things continue to roll that way for her when it needn't be.
Every Wednesday as she steps outside from work she is met with a view that obviously does her severe harm. One year, she nearly quit her job just to avoid seeing that blasted Easter Bunny poster from across the street. The corner of Saint Charles Street houses The Oxford Press, Publishing Co. and directly adjacent and across the street is Carlton Cards & Gift Shop. Every occassion and holiday is well adverized and overly expressed by the gift shop owners. They have to do it, and Sally has to go to work.
The last work hour on Wednesday Sally kept looking at her watch. At one point she took it off and slid it inside her pocket bag. But then, she kept glancing to the wall clock a few feet away from her cubicle. She seemed ill at ease and certainly restless as she tapped her fingers on the edge of her chair looking nervously back and forth to that darn clock ticking on the wall. Even if her co-workers took notice to her odd behaviour no-one can imagine the horrors and demons she faced. Wednesday was the beginning and usually by closing Thursday at five o'clock, Sally was a wreck. Always flushed, scattered, and sketched out. She was jumpy and extremely nervous. One time she stayed in the bathroom long after everyone else had gone home. The night guard found her there. He was probably the only one to see her in such a state hence the reason it never re-occurred. She must have made a mental note to never again try such a tactic to escape the inevitable--face her fears and worst nightmares.
She was the last to leave, another tactic as she knew she'd have to turn her back to Carlton Cards while locking up. She fumbled with the keys dropping them twice, but eventually she locked up shop. She raised her hand to the side of her face to avoid seeing anything from across the street as she walked the sidewalk to retrieve her bicycle. She no longer took the metro transit. Two years prior she sold her car as she no longer trusted herself to drive or be among people on the bus.
It had to be difficult for her as Carlton Cards was not the only shop advetizing Easter. Sally's apartment was five blocks away and decorations expressing the holiday were everywhere. The religious holiday stands for a few days off from work. There could not be work for her during this weekend, at least not for now--not even Saturdays.
Arriving at her apartment she nearly fell off her bike as she hurried to get inside. Locking the door and resting up against it, her memories must have surfaced. Crumbling to the floor the tears were finally released. Sobbing without control, "Why me? Why me?"
..............A light snow fell causing people to leave early that Saturday. Sally was the first to leave as she always made it a point to make it to church for the final sermon. She was later than usual and had to run to catch the last 15 minutes; the best ones. The church was in sight as she rounded the last corner, but something or someone grabbed her and pulled her into the alley. Too stunned she was without fight and the creature had her pinned down within seconds. It was dark but as her perpetrator did the unforgiveable she saw his Easter Bunny mask moving up and down merely inches from her own face. In pain and in dire straights she eventually made it home as her Easter Bunny escaped and she fought him off and away in her mind for the rest of her days..............
