Love Pollen

There was a pollen storm outside. That’s why Jennifer hadn’t been outside for two days. She lived alone.

She checked out some home delivery stores and chose one that she didn’t usually shop at. She just didn’t want people around her to know she was hiding from the pollen. She called them and waited for the delivery.

She put on her blue house dress and put a large mask on her face. She looked in the mirror and saw the reflection of a tall, thin young lady with black hair, whose pretty face (according to Jennifer) was brutally covered by the yellow mask. However, she decided that the yellow didn’t go well and put on an orange one. So she tried on a few, and when someone rang the doorbell, she stayed with the green one. She quickly found herself in front of the door and said,

„You can put the products in the basket on the side.“

„Excuse me, ma’am, but you have to sign, those are the instructions…“ – a pleasant male voice replied.

„No one has ever asked me to sign, and it’s already paid for. Besides, I’m still Miss Jennifer.“

„I’m also single and my name is Tom. But why did I tell you that…? Uh… you still have to sign, because I never sign for others.“

„I understand that you’re an honest person, but I can’t go out there, there’s pollen. Only with a mask and ski goggles.“

„Go out with them and I promise I won’t laugh.“

JJennifer hesitated, but to her surprise, she said:

„I’ll go out then… quickly.“

And she put on the orange goggles she wore when skiing every winter and opened the door. And there stood a young man about her age, with a nice blond mane, and she wasn't sure about his eyes because he couldn't see well through his glasses. But Tom smiled anyway, and Jennifer said,

“You laughed anyway… but I'm not mad at you.”

“It's not because of you… it's because I like to draw, so I laughed because of the colors.”

“Oh, I understand. Green, orange, and blue are terrible things. But what can you do, you called just when I was looking around with green.“

“You have problems with pollen, don't you?” Tom asked sincerely, and without waiting for an answer, he continued, “My little sister was like you, and she stayed home for a week, sometimes two, and she had a dozen different masks and glasses.“

“They don't help much, do they?”

“That's right… the pollen either goes through them or sticks to all the clothes and gets into the house.”

During this time, Jennifer signed, and Tom’s phone rang and he apologized that he had to go. And she waved goodbye to him, a little annoyed that he couldn’t see her without a mask, because she was sure she was very beautiful.

The next day, however, she called again for a delivery to the same place and Tom came again. This time she went out without a mask, because it seemed to her that there was no wind at all and that the pollen was somewhere far..far away.

„Your order, ma’am. And signature, please.“

„Didn’t you recognize me…from yesterday…green, orange and blue?“

„Oh, yes. But if you had come out the same way as then I would have remembered right away…Now you’re without a mask…and you look more…“– but he still looking for the right word.

„What…were you going to say?“ – she tried to force him to say the word, Jennifer.

„You look prettier…“

„And… and...“ – Jennifer wanted to say that Tom was also very nice, but just then the flower dust caught her and she sneezed very hard and uncontrollably.

Which made her start to apologize, but at the same time tears started to flow and she felt another sneeze coming. And she hadn’t even signed yet. Tom, however, had experience with these things and put his hand on her shoulder, saying:

„Let freedom come to you now!“ – and then lowered his head and seemed to be saying something else to himself.

And Jennifer took a deep breath and didn’t sneeze, and her tears now slowed down their flow.

„What did you do, Tom?“

„The same thing I did for my sister, Elizabeth. I prayed for you…“

„Hmm. And did it work for Elizabeth?“

„Completely and thank God.“

„You’re a believer…“

„And you..?“

„I’m not sure, but not like you.“

„I can tell you everything I know about it…if you want…and after work?“

Jennifer kept her eyes on Tom the whole time and knew she could trust him. So she said:

„Mom won’t believe I went outside during a pollen storm, and I don’t trust myself either. But I’d be happy to talk to you. I don’t know what you did, but I want to know more.“

So they parted for a while, and outside the wind had begun to play with the pollen, and only Jennifer, standing on the doorstep, was watching him and wondered if it was true.

*

Here's my story, since I don't see where to post it.

The Picnic

My daughter Sharen and I planned to have a picnic in our front yard. The weather was perfect. Warm temperatures, the wind chimes blowing in the breeze, and hamburgers, hotdogs, and sausage dogs on the grill set the stage for a special celebration. What a day for a family get together.

“I can’t go out there, there’s Pollen!” Sharen cried as I gathered the bowl of homemade mac and cheese she’d made for this special occasion.

“We’ll be under the shelter, so the pollen won’t be so bad under there. Besides, it’s supposed to rain later.” I picked up the bowl with one hand and opened the door with the other. “Come on, get your shoes on.” I called. “I need your help with this bowl.”

“What have you got there?” Mama asked me as she walked up to the door.

“Sharen made mac and cheese.” I handed Mama the bowl and turned to urge Sharen to come out.

“Sheren, come on here,” Mama called from behind me.

“But the pollen!” she replied.

“There ain’t much pollen falling off those trees. You’ll be under the shelter anyway. Now come on here.”

Sharen threw on a pair of shorts, a tee shirt and her crocks. She followed me out the door into the still, quiet air. No pollen lay on the vehicles parked outside, and no wind blew the leaves around.

“Is our picnic still happening?” I asked as we walked toward the shelter.

When we entered, everybody sat still and quiet, like the world was holding its breath. “What’s going on? I thought we were having a cookout.” I waited for someone to help me find a seat, but no one moved.

“We are having a cookout, but we had to wait for Sharen to give her a…” Mama’s voice trailed off for a split second, then everyone yelled “Surprise!”

“What’s all this?” Sharen asked as balloons waved in the air, and kids blew noisemakers to get the party started.

“Congratulations! You are our brand-new high school senior.” Shirley wrapped Sharen in a hug.

“Yep, we planned this special day just for you.” I turned and hugged Sharen as the burgers and hotdogs were laid out on the table on separate platters.

“What about the pollen? I didn’t see any today,” Sharen asked.

“Honey, it’s summer time. There’s not much pollen hanging around.” With Mama’s help I fixed my plate and let the party begin.

There is a time of year when lots of people sit inside and sneeze and cry. You might think so, but it's not. Of course, eyes and noses run. Even ears run for those who are particularly affected. My friend Emma is one of them.

“I can't go out there, there's pollen.” she used to say in the spring when I suggested we go for a walk. It always faded out and we had our walks in late spring, summer, autumn and especially in the winter.

That's why I was surprised one day in the middle of October when I heard her yell, “I can't go out there, there's pollen.” I looked at her questioningly.

“It's ten degrees below zero outside, my friend.”

“It doesn't matter! Pollen!”

I had every reason to doubt her, but the thinking part of me soon came to the conclusion that she doesn't usually have pollen hysteria, not in winter anyway. So I got up from the very comfortable, somewhat worn, armchair that I had planted myself in earlier that evening and went over to her where she was standing by the balcony door.

“But? What’s that?” I asked.

Outside the window, snow was falling. It could have been snow, but instead it was something else.

“Pollen!” Emma suggested. “It’s pollen!”

“Not a chance.” I thought. “It has to be something else, something unusual. Maybe a weather phenomenon? El nino?”

Now it was Emma’s turn to look at me with a disparaging expression. Her green eyes sought my blue.

“In the middle of winter?” she asked,

Good point of course. It couldn’t be El nino, we associate that phenomenon with summer.

I turned to the TV corner and turned on the TV. Something was dead wrong, there was snow on every channel.

“Just like outside.” Emma mused as she rubbed her right palm against her round cheek. “Pollen everywhere…”

“Or snow.” I suggested.

We sat next to each other in the love seat and watched wide-eyed as everything on the TV showed nothing but snow. Channel after channel.

“The only consolation is that we don’t have to watch commercials!” she said smiling at me.

She had an extraordinary ability to find the positives among everything that happened, even though she initially thought it was a pollen storm swirling around outside. We hugged each other for comfort.

The TV didn’t give us any information, so we got up from the couch and moved back to the balcony window.

Whatever was swirling outside started to form into drifts. The drifts grew and shrank in size as if they were alive and pulsating. We watched each other wide-eyed and stood closer than we usually did. We weren’t a couple, but we stood close enough to look like a couple.

“Do we dare to open and see what it is?” Emma wondered.

I shook my head.

“Not a good idea. We have no idea what it is out there.”

We stood silently next to each other. Nobody could tell how long, it could have been a minute. Or ten.

“Do you have a radio?” I asked suddenly.

“Sure!” Emma replied eagerly, as if everyone has a radio these days.

She hurried into the bedroom and made a loud rumble. A few foul words reached my ears before I heard a cheerful “Yiha!”. Two seconds later she stood in the doorway with the radio in her left hand, her blond hair on end and a happy smile on her face. It flashed through my mind how cute she was, before I asked if she had batteries or a power cord.

The happy smile disappeared in a split second.

“Batteries?” she moaned.

“Power cord?” she muttered and turned back into the bedroom.

New rumble, additional foul words, more time but finally she appeared in the doorway with a cold expression.

“No. Neither batteries or a power cord…”

I asked to see the radio and she handed it over without hesitation. It said 220V on the back and we had no use for the TV. A short while later we were both on our knees behind the TV and unplugged the power cord. It did fit! Time for a power outlet!

I think she hit me with an open palm when I asked where we could find a power outlet. I think I also heard the words idiot and check the TV.

I shook my head in shame. Stress can cause so much chaos in a poor head!

I turned the power on and tuned to a channel. Music! I tuned to another channel. News! I repeated the procedure and not a single channel mentioned anything about pollen snow. There was music, talk-shows, commercials and news, but none of them mentioned anything about pollen or snow.

We turned off the radio and sat in silence. Everything was quiet, but then after a minute or so there was a sound like distant laughter. We looked at each other. I wondered if my eyes were as big as Emma's?

The laughter grew louder and louder. Both Emma and I began to suspect that something was very wrong and if we had been fooled.

Bo, Ellen and Laura opened the front door, stepped in unannounced and roared with laughter when they saw us cuddling close together in front of the dead TV, with the radio in front of us.

Yes, it turned out that we had been the victims of a practical joke by the three of them. They had somehow managed to hijack our TV connection and sprayed shredded hay on the windows. Not quite pollen, but close enough.

Emma and I looked at each other, but we did not participate in our friends' happy laughter. In no other way than victims, anyway. Rage grew in my heart towards the three friends and I began to think about revenge. I wondered if the same thoughts buzzed around in Emma's head?

EXCUSES

“God doesn’t accept excuses, Toma.”

”I know, Alvie,” I looked down at my clenched hands and shifted on the squishy sofa.

“Toma, you must go!!”

I held my hands over my ears and fell to the floor of my apartment, trying to block out the voice. But it echoed again and again. I had ignored it for ages. 

“God, please, you know I can’t do this. There are so many reasons. I’m constantly sick if I go outside, I have to live in a stable environment or I’ll get horrible allergies. I’m allergic to the pollen You created!”  I slammed my hands down to my sides and stared up at the ceiling, “Do You ever say anything to other people out loud like this? No one talks about it in church, and here You are filling my house with a voice I will never forget, telling me to do something I just can’t do!”

The memory of my heated conversation with God flooded into my mind. Alvie was the only person I knew who believed me when I told her that God really talked to me out loud, but now she was telling me that God doesn’t accept excuses.

”Surely you remember the story about Moses, he couldn’t speak right, and God told him to go talk to Pharaoh. God is telling you to go to Oklahoma and help out with that church and you are complaining about your allergies. Can I ask you a question, Toma?”

I rolled my eyes and sighed, “Go ahead.”

”Who made you and your allergies?”

”God,” I looked into Alvie’s eyes, she smiled.

”Now therefore go, and I will be in thy lungs, and keep you breathing.” The familiar Voice filled my head. 

I quickly pulled a Bible from the bookshelf and flipped it open to the beginning of Exodus,”Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. Exodus 4:12.”

Alvie grinned, “Even God’s quoting Scripture now.”

I sighed heavily and closed my eyes.

I sat in an air conditioned taxi and watched the Oklahoma plains fly by. I took a deep breath, already my lungs and throat felt constricted. God didn’t seem to be keeping His promise.

“God, I don’t want to do this,” I tried to gulp down the fear.

”You can do all things through Me, I will strengthen you. But you have to do it through Me, you have to trust Me.”

Finally the cab stopped in front of a large house just outside the city. It was beautiful. Old architecture and soft colors. A grassy lawn lined with well kept flower beds and bushes stretched around the house. A paved driveway led up to the front steps.

The whole place was wonderful, like a picture from a story book.

”I could be happy out here,” I nodded my head and thanked the cab driver. For a moment I forgot about my allergies.

I grabbed my suitcase from the seat beside me and opened the door. Immediately a wave of fresh air hit me and my throat grew intensely tight, my lungs burned. My eyes began to water as I hurried towards the house. When I reached the door, the thought of knocking didn’t even occur to me. I threw open the door and stumbled inside, breathing raggedly.

I blundered around, eyes closed trying to keep the tears in. Finally after tripping over a hundred different things, my hands found a bench. I sat down, trying to slow my breathing. 

Eventually my throat eased up and my eyes stopped watering, I slowly lifted my eyelids and looked around the entry hall, dozens of rather shocked faces greeted me.

I must’ve looked confused, “I’m sorry, is this the pastor’s house?”

An old woman nodded her head in affirmation. 

“Oh?” I looked around, studying the people. The pastor had told me he ran a homeless shelter, but I didn’t expect it to be in his own house.

”Well,” I looked around again, “I was told he needed some help running his mission, I wasn’t given any more information than that, any idea where Mr. Ellis is?”

”Pastor Ellis,” a girl said as she stood up and walked to the boy’s side, “is out of the house, but his wife is upstairs, I’ll show you.”

”Right, Pastor Ellis. Thank you,” I hurried after the girl as she seemed to fly up the stairs, my lungs were on fire.

”So, Ms. Toma Kodak, I’ve heard good things about you. You want to follow the Lord with all your heart, and He even speaks to you personally,” Pastor Ellis entwined his fingers together and seemed to stare straight into my soul. I fidgeted on the leather chair.

”Alvie must’ve talked to you,” I looked down at my knees, “I’m not sure what I really want to do, but I’ve learned that God is not a force to be reckoned with, He told me to come here, so I did.” I looked back up at the pastor, trying to look confident, his eyes bored right into the truth.

”I’ve heard,” he paused, “that it wasn’t that easy.”

”I like to make excuses,” I grinned sheepishly, and hurried to add, “but this house is nice, I could definitely live here.”

”Good, I want you to start with the gardeners,” he raised his eyebrows as if trying to probe me for a secret, “the garden is not producing as much food as we need. To be honest with you, I think we need a woman’s hand out there.”

My grin faded into a slight grimace, “I’m sorry, Pastor Ellis, I can’t go out there, there’s pollen.”

The man pursed his lips and stared at me, “In that case, grab your suitcase and go back to where you came from.”

My eyes grew wide as I shook my head, “No, I’ll just bring some tissues, God doesn’t accept excuses.”