Can't Wait to Get to Heaven

Mrs. Franks, an Old Friend

12:01 PM

Mrs. Louise Franks had been a neighbor of Elner’s when Elner had still lived out on the farm, and they had spent a lot of time visiting back and forth with each other over the years, cooking recipes they had heard on the Neighbor Dorothy radio show. After Elner’s husband, Will Shimfissle, had died, and before Elner moved to town, they had seen each other almost every day. Louise still ran a ten-acre farm and today had had a busy morning tending to all the usual chores. It was around noontime when she ran into the small convenience store at the gas station to pick up a pack of marshmallows for her daughter, Polly, who was allowed one bag of marshmallows a week. And while she was there, she’d grabbed a six-pack of caffeine-free Diet Coke and a bottle of Windex as well. As the clerk scanned the Diet Cokes, he said, “Were you listening to Bud and Jay this morning, Mrs. Franks?”

“No, I missed it today. Why?”

“They said that Mrs. Shimfissle died.”

Mrs. Franks was stunned, she had just talked to Elner on the phone yesterday about the Easter egg hunt.

“What?”

“Yeah, Bud said she died this morning in the hospital in Kansas City. Didn’t you know her pretty well?”

Mrs. Franks suddenly felt herself getting dizzy and sweaty.

“Yes, I did.”

The clerk saw the stricken look on her face and said, “I’m sorry, I figured you might have heard by now.”

“No. I hadn’t heard.” Then Mrs. Franks turned around and walked out the door.

The clerk called after her, “Hey…you left your things here.

“Well, I guess she didn’t want them,” he mumbled to himself.

Mrs. Franks drove out of the parking lot in a daze and about a block later pulled over and parked.

She sat there thinking about what the clerk had asked so matter-of-factly. “Didn’t you know her pretty well?”

Pretty well? Even the words “She was the best friend I ever had” would have been inadequate. No one would, or could, ever know what Elner had done for Mrs. Franks and her daughter. Then her thoughts and concerns went immediately to her daughter, Polly, who was now at day care waiting for Mrs. Franks to come pick her up. How would she ever be able to explain to Polly that Mrs. Shimfissle had died? Polly loved Mrs. Shimfissle; she had been the only other person in the world whom she would spend the night with without crying and screaming for her mother. Every year, Mrs. Franks had dressed her daughter up in her new outfit and driven her to town for Elner’s big Easter egg hunt. Other than Christmas and having her picture made with Santa Claus, Easter was Polly’s favorite day of the year. She loved playing with the other children, and no matter what eggs she found in the yard, Elner always made a big fuss over it, gave her the biggest prize. One year her prize was a jeweled silver cowgirl belt with two cap guns that she still loved to play with to this day.

Poor Polly, even though she was now forty-two years old, she was severely retarded and had the mind of a six-year-old; she would never be able to understand why Mrs. Shimfissle would not be there anymore, or where she had gone. “I won’t tell her today,” she thought. “I’ll just give her a bag of marshmallows and let her be happy, for just a little while longer.” She was halfway home when she realized she had left her groceries on the counter and had to turn around and go back and still could hardly believe it. Elner Shimfissle dead. Elner, the bravest and purest soul she had ever known. Gone. “Where is she now?” she wondered.

As Louise drove along, she thought that if there was such a thing as heaven, then surely Elner had to be there right now.