THE SECOND TIME AROUND
Annabella gazed from her kitchen window. It was spring and the two cherry trees in her back yard, a Stella and a Windsor, were in full bloom. Mark had planted them the day they moved into their home at 440 South Evergreen, in the small town of Arlington Heights, Illinois. He subsequently planted a Honeycrisp and a Macintosh apple tree behind the cherry trees, but the cherry trees stoked melancholy on this anniversary of his passing. They had been happily married for almost seven blessed years when fate took him from her. She often wondered why the gods thought so little of her that they allowed him to go, casting this fate upon her. She sipped her coffee and thought about what she would do on this day. It was Sunday. She was in the choir of Saint Peter’s Lutheran congregation so she would attend the early and regular morning services. It would give her a chance to be with others she knew and loved, and who understood her loss. She had been in the choir before she was married b...