The Coat That Wouldn't Come Off! by A. A. Augustine

And this time, there was no blinding light, but only the light from a small bulb that was
encased in a wire harness hanging high on a bricked, cobwebbed-entrenched wall behind a beautiful
young ladies face that Johnny could barely make out. But like the man behind the tables voice, it
suddenly came back to him.
“Hey!” as he pulled on the housecoat of the lady in the dainty bonnet ...”
“It’s the lady in the polka dotted dress with the bluebird hat from that day with the coat! It
was too big for her and everyone thought it was a bum trick!” Said Johnny half in shock now at all
that was taking place around him.
“Yes, Johnny, it certainly is !”said the lady in the bonnet.
The lady in the polka dotted dress and bluebird hat swung the door gently open toward the
interior of the hallway swinging swiftly around the edge of the door and landed in the middle of the
doorway like a spring shot exuberantly and cheerfully to greet Johnny.
“ Hello Johnny, we’ve been expecting you.” She said.
“Is everything all set?!” asked the old woman in the bonnet and housecoat to the young
woman in the polka dotted sundress and blue bird hat.
“Yes, we are right on schedule. The crew is just putting the finishing touches on those prize
Juniper bushes that Misses Wisken keeps by the front entrance gate. It’ll just be a minute now.”
At that, the lady in the bonnet and the housecoat gently handed Johnny off to the lady in
the polka dotted dress and bluebird hat, pushing him tenderly forward by the small of his back toward
her.
“Goodbye Johnny, we’re sure you will do good work.“ Said the old woman in the bonnet.
Johnny stepped up into the doorway and waived goodbye to the man behind the table and
the old woman in the bonnet and housecoat as the lady in the polka dotted dress with the blue bird
hat took him by the hand and lead him down the steps through the doorway and sharply to the left.
He noticed that they were in a long, straight, dimly lit corridor.
The lady in the polka dotted dress then grabbed Johnny’s hand and proceeded to take the
lead and looking back, said to him.
“ Now don’t be afraid, dear. I can light the way for us. Watch this.“
And with those words, Johnny could now see tiny little colorful sparks begin to appear and
swirl all around the lady in the polka dotted dress with the blue bird hat. They lit up the corridor just
enough so they could see where they were going. Like a surreal, miniature fireworks display. Johnny
wondered how such a thing was possible. But after all Johnny had been through this year, and
especially in the last few moments, he thought anything was possible at this point.
And it certainly was.
Even though Johnny could hear his own two feet reverberating through the wide, dark
corridor as they walked, the lady in the polka dotted dress and the bluebird hat didn’t seem to make
a sound at all. Her feet were touching the ground alright, he could see that, even in the dim glow of
the colorful burst that surrounded her. She wasn’t floating. But, she also wasn’t making any sound
either as she moved through the corridor. Silent as a soft wind with tiny colorful sparks flowing all
around her pretty dress.
Johnny could hardly take his eyes off the firefly, fairy-like, miniature fireworks display
that surrounded her. The sparks were becoming even more pronounced the farther they traveled in
the darkness of the dimly lit corridor. Splashing the walls with tiny burst of color as they walked
forward into the darkness before them. He was transfixed on her. Almost hypnotized by all of the
surreal, ethereal beauty before him.
He was so taken in the transcendent bliss of the moment now that he did not even care
where she was leading him or where they would end up and what would happen when they got there.
He was smitten by her luminescent beauty and the quiet, soft grace that surrounded her.
“She is as beautiful as a dream and just the type of girl I would someday hope to marry now
that that horrible coat had come off and I can think of my future again.” He thought to himself as he
was surely lost in the haze of what was happening before him.
Johnny was lost in thoughts of picket fences and little cherubic glowing children playing
in the yard of a perfect pillbox home as the pair approached a large metal door that sat imposingly
around a sharp turn to the left.
They had been traveling straight back down a corridor parallel to the street from where