A Visitation (standard:fantasy, 430 words)
Author: denis holzhauser	Added: Oct 20 2001	Views/Reads: 3630/3	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A small moment of simple pleasure

I am,by all measure,a successful man.To explain my good fortune,I must
tell you,that quite simply,I have failed at everything,all the way up 
to financial success.You may ask,"How is that possible?" But that would 
mean,you have not been paying attention.I didn't start out wanting to 
be a rich failure,but having said that,if I had been offered that 
happenstance,in my youth,I would have taken it as my 
choice,immediately. 

I was never enamoured with toil,I loved comfort,luxury,books,small
animals,sex and my solitude.By sex I mean love making with women that 
excited me,not all great beauties and in truth,not all were that great 
in bed.From early in my teens,to now,an old man,I have been blessed 
with a panoply of female sexual partners. 

All of which, brings me to the now,past aging,as in old.I must husband
myself to extend what I have left in time.Yesterday, since I live 
alone,I was washing dirty dishes that I had left in the sink 
overnight.The work area overlooks my driveway to the carport in the 
rear of the property.It,also,looks out upon a wrought iron picket fence 
that extends around the length of my property and separates me from my 
neighbors,whose homes are all off some distance away from mine.Sitting 
on one of the iron posts was a young,mature white male pigeon.He was 
facing me and doing a little preening in the sun.I was surprised and 
enthralled by my guest,I had lived here for many years and had never 
before,even seen a pigeon in my yard. 

He seemed to be resting.He was mostly white,but had a shade of what
seemed to be sooty gray on the edges of his wings,but more remarkable 
was that he had around most of his neck that I could see,a slim inky 
black perfectly proportioned ring that reminded me of the black velvet 
band some ladies wore around there necks,usually with a small 
cameo.His, however,seemed to disappear directly under his bill,a very 
small break in the symmetry.He looked at me.I did not want to startle 
him,so I stopped all movement and tried not to look like I was was 
watching him. I surmised that he must have been a young racing 
pigeon,either lost or being smart,had decided to take a rest.I wondered 
if the break in the beautiful black band around his neck was really 
only hidden by longer white feathers under his head,or if,perhaps,it 
was a velvet black band with an identification device.He stopped and 
looked back at me.For a very long moment we stared at each other,but I 
broke my stare,wishing not to alarm him,and looked down.When I dared to 
look again,he was gone.


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